Skretta's Scintillating Salutations

[Testimony delivered to the Revenue Committee of the Nebraska State Legislature on March 15, 2013 in support of LB 447] Good afternoon, Senators: I am Dr. John Skretta [spell name, first and last] and I am Superintendent of the Norris school district. I am here this afternoon to provide proponent testimony for Senator Avery's LB447 . I want to thank you in advance for your service on the revenue committee. I can only intuit the challenge you face daily; the unsavory task of sifting through various and sundry proposals for use of our great state’s limited resources for a vast array of initiatives, some good, many meritorious, others questionable. As a school superintendent of a district that strives for high achievement while conserving costs, I empathize with the dilemmas encountered when considering the coinage. I am here today to share with you some of what we believe becomes possible, probable and attainable for school districts in Nebraska should LB447 be adopted....

How what we are doing is working for Norris - in Chromebook integration and wireless accessibility.  A proud google school! Technology integration is a core component of School Improvement and sustained Professional Development. Stay the course and keep your commitments! We believe that accessibility is a core value and teaching appropriate use standards is a higher value than banning and a better use of our time than policing and depriving; we are not a techno police state!  We emphasize teaching developmentally appropriate use. Create a solution that works for you, don’t worry about replicating others or copying buzzwords.   Free yourself from the constraints of conformity (it’s not about one particular device or one piece of equipment that is a magic bullet; there’s no such thing). Begin with the end in mind (consider sustainable solutions or you’ll flounder). It’s not about hardware - the equipment will be different 5 years out - probably very different. It’s...