CANTON — The Canton Central School District will host a public hearing Thursday, April 6, on plans to spend nearly $1 million to upgrade classroom technology including the purchase of 1,200 Chromebooks.

The district also plans to purchase 60 interactive Touch Boards and 26 TVs for classrooms with funds from the state Smart School Bond Act Investment Plan.

The hearing will take place at 6:45 p.m. in the High School Library.

CCS plans to spend $954,529.66 of their total $1,502,137 Smart School Bond Act Investment Plan funds and will save the remaining $547,607.23 for future projects.

The Board of Education adopted the preliminary Smart Schools Investment Plan proposed for the district at the March 2 BOE meeting. The district will need to submit their plan to the state for approval prior to making purchases. Officials will apply for reimbursement of spending based on the plan.

The Smart Schools Bond Act, approved by New York voters in 2014, provides funding finance improved education technology education and infrastructure in an effort to improve learning and opportunity for students.

Of the $954,529.66, Canton Central plans to spend $439,279.66 on classroom technology, $492,000 on 1-1 device lifecycle replacement (does this mean they are replacing old tablets and computers? If so, we should say that) and $23,250 on the non-public school loaner program.

The non-public school loaner program funding will be split between Little River and St. Catherine schools, based on enrollment. The funds are required to be allocated to the schools by the State Education Department.

The plan includes the purchase of 1,200 Chromebooks for students, 60 Clear Touch boards, 26 TVs, as well as dozens of mobile stands, HDMI cables, USB extender cables, docking stations and laptops. Eleven new Chromebooks will be purchased for teachers.

Clear Touch and similar panels have replaced the old board and projector model in most schools, officials said.

The student Chromebook plan includes the next cycle for all three buildings and includes cases.

A faculty survey in the spring of 2022 determined teachers would prefer interactive boards, TVs, and mobile stands or wall mounts.

The purchases will take place in four phases, from 2023 through 2027.

Staggered purchases will allow for smaller future replacement purchases to maintain the technology.

Any questions or comments about the plan should be sent to smartschools@ccsdk12.org.

Visit www.ccsdk12.org/smartschools for documents pertaining to this Smart School Investment Plan.