Salem School District

The Salem School District believes that technology, when appropriately applied and used, is a powerfully enabling tool.  Consistent with the District’s Core Values (Safety, Respect, Responsibility) all students and new faculty receive Digital Citizenship training.  Students receive this from classroom teachers, school-based librarians, guidance and health teachers.  A couple of years ago, all teachers were required to take a 4-part online course and since then all new teachers are required to do the same.  We encourage parents and guardians to partner with us and help reinforce this important skill. Please visit the new online resource via the Technology Support Guide under Parent Links.

Artificial Intelligence (AI).  In alignment with School Board goals, we have moved from exploration to structured implementation. This summer the AI Committee and the three AI working groups (Academic, Business, Ethics) meet to discuss and plan for the coming school year.  Our working groups ensure a balanced approach. The Academic group is focusing on student learning and teacher efficiency. The Business group on optimizing district operations and the Ethics group ensuring data privacy and responsible use.  We have developed initial guidelines for use, created an online professional development AI primer, tested tools from Google (Gemini and NotebookLM) and released an AI component within ParentSquare to help improve communications. The primer will be released in January along with adult access to Gemini. 

We continue to harden both our physical and digital environments to protect our students and staff. This year we replaced several aged security cameras, added cameras to improve coverage and enhanced door security.  We integrated our emergency notification application with the intercom systems across the elementary and pre-schools.  Next, we will work on the same type of integration at the high and middle schools.  As an additional layer of notification, all adult laptops at the high and middle schools now have pop up notifications also integrated with the emergency notification application.  Measures have been taken to secure our computer and server environment including expanding our implementation of multi-factor authentication and we began a best practice review of the district Google environment. 

Modernizing the learning environment.  This summer 1,000 Chromebooks were prepped and delivered replacing the aged ones for incoming freshmen, seniors, first and second grades; wireless access points were renewed in Soule, Fisk and North Salem elementary schools improving access to online content; all copiers and printers were renewed; and replacement servers were purchased for the elementary schools.    

The Salem IT Department prioritizes equipping, training, and supporting classroom teachers with the appropriate levels of technology.  We have two, talented ex-teachers that work directly with teachers on using technology to support the curriculum.  When students see lessons involving the use of technology, they become engaged and invested in their own education, work collaboratively with focus, and see what they are learning as relevant to the world around them.  Below is a sample of some of the most widely used classroom educational technology.

• Interactive Projectors – in every classroom for teachers and students to wired or wirelessly present their work
• Chromebooks – every student is provided a district Chromebook to support their learning
• Wi-Fi  - in every building and room to access online materials and services
• Google Workspace for Education – student’s primary content creation and collaboration tool
• Google Classroom – a virtual classroom to help reinforce the in-classroom experience