Teacher Technology Training Progressing in Muskegon Public Schools

Andrew Trzaska | December 22, 2010

Tuesday night’s Muskegon Public Schools board meeting was fairly uneventful but did include an update from Technology Department Supervisor Kip Griffin on teacher training for new equipment purchased with money from the massive bond initiative passed in 2009.

At November’s board meeting, Technology Department Supervisor Kip Griffin explained how the 2009 bond initiative’s money was spent, but several concerns were raised at that meeting that not enough teacher training had yet been done, and some schools had been missed.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Griffin outlined a three-point plan for moving forward with training across the school system.

First, the Technology Department was looking to identify teacher leaders that could then take their higher level of expertise and act as resources for other teachers to learn from.

Second, catching up on training for teachers who missed some was a priority.

Lastly, the Technology Department hopes to use a few teacher professional development days towards further training.  Griffin reported that some substitute and stipend money has been reassigned to allow for this.

“All these things require time and money,” said Griffin.

Oakview School was cited last month as one where teachers appeared to have been missed or not fully trained.  Griffin updated the board on the two training sessions that had been held at the school in the time since the last meeting.

When speaking about the timeline of teacher training with the new equipment, multiple board members referenced the bond initiative that ran from 1996 through 2000.  Some, like board Vice President Kevin Donovan, supported Griffin’s report, saying that training for the equipment purchased in that five-year period required training time, and that it would simply take time.

Others board members, including Bill O’Brien, cautioned that using the 1996-2000 bond as a benchmark was underachieving.

“I don’t think we should complain about this training, but we should get it done faster than in 1996.”