Windermere Elementary raises funds for technology upgrades

Most elementary-age children probably don’t know what a VHS tape is, and even fewer would know how to use one.

However, students at Windermere Elementary are all too familiar with the antiquated technology.

“The newsroom in our school is all VHS-tape based, and the technology is just super old,” said Carin Anderson, a co-chair of the Mustang Education Fund, a parent-led initiative to invest in technology at the school. “A lot of the A-rated schools around town, that are also newer, you know, when they move in they get the new HD newsroom because that’s already part of the school. But our school has been there for a long time, and so we just have to enhance it ourselves.”

The Mustang Education Fund began four years ago as a  way to raise money to fill the gap in funding for technology. Every year since 2012, the parent-volunteers of the nine-member committee host Technology Week, where they hold fundraisers and ask for donations for the fund, 100% of which is used for technology expenses.

So far this year, they’ve raised $6,000. However, they are attempting to reach $7,500 to update the VHS-based newsroom. The school’s newsroom is used by the students every morning to communicate daily announcements, and lead the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem. The school principal also addresses the school through the newsroom.

But lately, the quality of the video and sound that comes through has been subpar.

“The technology is so outdated that the image comes out kind of fuzzy and the sounds comes out kind of garbled and not real easy to hear,” Anderson said. “So this will just make everything a lot smoother.”

Since its launch, the fund has purchased 50 iPads, 22 iPad Airs, 97 laptops, 98 Google Chromebooks, 16 high-speed printers, $500 in educational apps, computers for the science lab and Science STEM Kits.

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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected].