Elementary, middle and high school classrooms around Hall County will be receiving improvements over the next three years including repainting and technological enhancements.
The Hall County School Board voted unanimously Monday night in favor of an $11 million audio-visual improvement update to classrooms all around the county. The project will be completed in five phases wherein classrooms will be repainted and old projector systems will be removed. ClearTouch interactive panels will be replacing the existing technology.
The panels feature 86-inch displays with integrated speaker audio and touchscreen capabilities. The units can host multiple points of touch on the screen simultaneously, allowing for a more collaborative learning experience for teachers and students.
Assistant Superintendent for Technology Aaron Turpin said the project will overhaul many classrooms, some of which haven’t been repainted in almost two decades.
“We're excited that we're going to be in a position, with our board support tonight, to refresh all of our classroom AV [audio-visual], all of our classrooms in Hall County School District,” Turpin said. “We are moving from projectors that are failing or have failed, to 86-inch ClearTouch panels with two six-foot dry-erase boards on either side of the panel. Additionally, with this project, we're going to be painting all four interior walls of every classroom in the Hall County School District.”
Some ClearTouch panels are currently being piloted at Cherokee Bluff Middle School and Lanier College and Career Academy. After receiving positive feedback, Turpin said he’s excited to see how this new technology can help facilitate classroom activities.
“The ClearTouch panels are great for instruction, they obviously provide a great 86-inch viewing surface for the students,” Turpin said. “It's kind of like a big iPad, if you will, where students and teachers can interact with the panel, students can connect their Chromebooks or their personal cell phones to the panel, it can be split up into different areas, they can do compare/contrast work. It truly is an interactive panel.”
The installation process will be spread out over the next three years, with the first round of panels being installed at Academies of Discovery, Davis Middle School, Mt. Vernon Elementary, Spout Springs Elementary and East Hall Middle School. Phases two through five are as follows:
Phase 2, running from Sept. to Dec. 2023:
- Chestatee High School, Flowery Branch High School, Johnson Highschool, North Hall High School and West Hall High School.
Phase 3, running from Jan. to April 2024:
- East Hall High School, Chestatee Middle School, North Hall Middle School and West Hall Middle School.
Phase 4, running from June to Dec. 2024:
- Chestnut Mountain Elementary School, Chicopee Wood Elementary School, Flowery Branch Elementary School, Lyman Hall Elementary School, Martin Elementary School, Sardis Elementary School, Sugar Hill Elementary School and Wauka Mountain Elementary School.
Phase 5, running from Jan. to July 2025:
- Cherokee Bluff High School, Ivester Early College, Friendship Elementary School, Lanier Elementary School, Lula Elementary School, Myers Elementary School, Tadmore Elementary School and World Language Academy Elementary School.
