Updates and Progress

Please see below for the most recent updates on our 2015 Technology bond. As we started bond projects our theme was "Go slow to go fast." In other words we believe that careful planning, research and input is needed before we expend dollars. We want to make the most effective use of the community investment that our voters entrusted us with to ensure that it benefits our students and staff as much as possible. As we begin year seven of the bond, our technology and learning is leading the way. Thanks so much to the Grand Blanc Community for supporting our 2015 bond! Know you have made a huge difference in the life of our students!

Bond Series 3 & 4: 2020-2021

UPDATE - 1-25-2021: BOARD OF EDUCATION

Secondary Library Designs - Middle School (2021 Construction - High School 2022 Construction)

Preliminary Design for the New Grand Blanc East and West Middle School Libraries (2021) *Colors may not reflect final design.

Preliminary Design for the New Grand Blanc High School Library (2022) *Colors may not reflect final design.

2020-21 Projects Completed: $4.7 Million Investment

Installed new district wide Mitel telephone system. This includes 1,000+ phones and all backend equipment. The phone system was around 13 years old at the time of replacement.
Added and replaced security cameras at the High School East and West campus, Perry Center, and East and West Middle Schools at a cost of $378,000. New cameras are IP cameras which are much more clear than the outdated cameras that were in place.
Added new floor mounted switch rack to the 400 wing at the high school to provide additional room for projectors and classroom wiring and to make it easier and safer to access. (Previously had to have a ladder to access)
New HP and Dell Chromebook devices handed out to current Kindergarten, 1st and 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students.
Video production labs and studios were renovated at East and West Middle Schools. This includes new flooring, furniture, paint, control room cabinetry, televisions, and lighting.
Cook Elementary Technology Explorations Room - Remodel and new furniture.
Perry Innovation Center - Update projector wiring to accommodate new wiring scheme after pilot.
All middle school and high school classrooms have been updated with new projectors, sound fields, whiteboards, adjustable height teacher computer desks and wiring as of January 2021.
New IP security cameras were installed at the High School West Campus, High School East Campus, and Perry Innovation Center. These provide more coverage and clearer video.

Classroom Projector and Technology Update 2020-21 - Secondary Level

New Middle School Video Production Studios 2021

Assorted project work from 2020-21

New Cameras - District Wide

Bond Series 2: 2018

UPDATE - 2-26-2019: BOARD OF EDUCATION

Summer 2018 Pictures - More information and pictures to follow soon!
2018 Summer Projects

Renovation of the Anderson, Cook, and Indian Hill Libraries
Renovation of classrooms (whiteboard, projector, sound field, electrical and data wiring, speakers, paint), at Anderson, Cook, Indian Hill, and McGrath.
Roll-out of 1:1 Chromebooks for grades 3-5.
Roll-out of 1:2 carts for kindergarten and second grade.
Installation of Pixellot sports cameras for live streaming of events from the Frank Thomas and the large gymnasium at the high school.

Bond Series 1: 2016

Bond updates are in order from newest to oldest.

UPDATE - 7/6/2017
Check out these district communications from our journey this school year:

This summer we have three major construction projects to allow for better use of technology and instruction. The Grand Blanc High School West Campus "Center for Innovative Learning" is the largest project this summer. This project will make an old mostly unused auditorium and two old computer labs into a useful space for collaboration.

UPDATE - 2/13/2017: BOARD OF EDUCATION TECH BOND UPDATE VIDEO

UPDATE - 11/7/2016: TECH TREK, VOLUME 1 - TECH BOND IN ACTION

UPDATE - 8/22/2016: BOARD OF EDUCATION TECH BOND UPDATE
(Click above to view the presentation)

UPDATE - 4/27/2016: PUBLIC UPDATE - OPINION LEADERS SLIDE SHOW
(Click above to view the presentation)

UPDATE - 5/23/2016
DISTRICT SUMMER NEWSLETTER (CLICK HERE)
SERIES 1 - PLANNED EXPENDITURES (CLICK HERE)

UPDATE - 4/11/2016

SEE PREVIOUS UPDATE BELOW

The past couple of months has been extremely busy in the technology and curriculum departments! The two departments are working together very closely as we plan out projects to ensure that technology has a purpose and staff are receiving the support they need as new technologies are introduced.
Three major projects were placed out for bid through our District Wide Network Technology Renovations package in mid March. These projects include outside plant fiber optic cable, low voltage cabling, and network electronics. Essentially this package will deal with the backbone of our network and will help everything on the classroom end run much more smoothly. In order for us to add devices and update our technology, it is extremely important that our network has the equipment and capacity to handle modern day traffic. The following vendors were selected for these projects:
- Section 17050 - Fiber Optic Network - Weinstein Electric, Flint, Michigan $96,025.00
- Section 17055 - Low Voltage Cabling - Weinstein Electric, Flint, Michigan $182,358.00
- Section 17210 - Network Electronics - Netech (A Presidio Company), Wixom, Michigan $996,263.20
- These projects will begin immediately after school recesses for the summer and will take a good share of the summer to complete. Our goal date is to have everything completed by early to mid August. This project will impact every school and building in the district. Federal e-rate money grant dollars have been applied for and are expected to offset between $600,000-$700,000 of this project, which will help free up bond dollars for additional instructional technologies which will benefit our students and staff directly.
Staff from our District Technology Advisory Team and buildings have visited Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, Spring Lake Public Schools, and Byron Center Public Schools in addition to several of our own classrooms across the district. Lots of great ideas were collected to help ensure we make the best decisions possible and learn from mistakes made and successes achieved in these classrooms and districts. Our construction manager and technology consultants helped arrange the out of district visits which were very helpful to our staff.
The design and planning for our four new blended learning labs at the two middle school buildings is complete. The final blueprints are being drawn up and construction is planned for June 15th - July 15th. Furniture, carpet and technology will be ordered within the next couple of weeks. Below is a picture of the expected design of these labs. (More information below under Update #1)

Classroom technology pilots are being planned for the fall of 2016. In class devices (1:2 ratio) will be piloted at the K-2 level in a Kindergarten, 1st grade and second grade classroom. We are looking at piloting iPads and touchscreen Chromebooks in these three classrooms. In grades 3-5 a 1:1 take home program will be piloted using Chromebooks in three or four classrooms. In addition one team at each of our middle schools will pilot 1:1 take home Chromebooks. Finally, numerous teacher device and instructional equipment pilots will take place at the K-12 level. These pilots will provide the data and information needed to make decisions and move forward at all levels, K-12.
Teacher staff development will begin this summer. Approximately 80 teachers that will have direct access to technology in their classrooms during the 2016-17 school year will be participating in a two day Transformation Orientation training to be held in our new blended learning labs at the middle school buildings. (See picture above) Click HERE for details on the Transformation Orientation from our consultant, Communications by Design.
Expenditures to Date - $388,917.48 (Series 1 Total Available: $7,844,528.00)
- Election Costs $23,886.37 (Genesee County Clerk)
- Bond Application Preparation Payments $12,197.00 (Gazall Lewis and Associates)
- Chromebook Student Devices and Carts $160,656.48 (All levels) (CDW Government Inc.)
- Technology Consultant Fees $171,682.10 (Communications by Design)
- High School Yearbook Apple Computers $20,495.53

UPDATE - 2/4/2016 (Lab PICTURES UPDATED 2.11.2016)

Over the past three months since the bond passed we have been busy prioritizing and planning bond projects. Our District Technology Advisory Team (DTAT) which is made up of teachers, department chairs, administration, media staff, CTE staff, and technology staff, will be the group who makes final recommendations moving forward. This group is scheduled to visit other progressive districts (including Clinton, Byron Center, and Spring Lake), is having discussion about potential pilots involving classroom technologies, examining possible student devices, and reviewing learning management systems. In addition members will visit those classrooms in-district where some amazing things are happening right now. This group meets monthly during the school year.
In addition to the DTAT group, two groups are overseeing project management to ensure the best use of tax dollars, smooth project planning, and keeping the lines of communication open. Every two weeks a district administration team consisting of the Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, Business Director, Operations Director, Curriculum Director, and Technology Architect meet to discuss the project progress, ask questions, share opinions, and review plans. This has been a very helpful exercise. The second group that meets every two weeks consists of the construction manager, our technology consultants, the project architect, the electrical engineer, the District Operations Director and the District Technology Architect. This group does the detailed planning of all projects.
A minimal amount of staff and student devices have been ordered to deal with critical equipment failures across the district. These will arrive soon and will help provide staff and students with desperately needed devices in the upcoming weeks.
Currently our network supervisor and technology consultants are working on a network design. This involves fiber, switches, and data drops which when replaced will help our network reliability and speed.
Priorities have been set for Series 1 bond dollars. These are considered the most important tasks from 2016-2017 as we begin our project planning: New Fiber throughout District, Pilots and Beginning Placements of Student and Staff Devices, Middle School Blended Learning Labs/Training Facilities,Security Cameras, District Video Distribution System, MS Video Production Studios, Oldest Data Projectors, Electrical Updates District Wide
Teacher training is one of the most important aspects of this bond implementation. Our community members have told us that, our teachers have told us that, and our consultants have expressed this to our district. As part of our teacher training we will be using four middle school blended learning labs being built this summer to conduct the beginning sessions of a program provided by our technology consultants called "Transformation Orientation." Transforming our teaching is exactly what we want to do in Grand Blanc. The middle school buildings were selected due to the limited construction dollars available in Series One, and due to the low cost of remodeling. Our outstanding teaching staff works hard every day and we want to provide them the appropriate tools and training to be as effective as they can be in the classroom. Every teacher and administrator in the district will go through this onsite training over the next few years. Our consultants, Communications by Design, out of Ada Michigan have proven results using the the "Transformation Orientation" program. Their expertise in both design and staff development is the key reason we sought them out to help us through this technology bond. Below is the preliminary design of the Middle School Blended Learning Lab. It is currently in the final design stage and will vary in final design just a little bit. Knowing that our students have different needs at every level, it is important to understand that this is intended for the middle school level. Because these are pilots, this set-up will let us know what needs to change and give us some ideas of what works well and what needs improvement. Many us who were raised in the distant past may ask, "Why do these kids need this? or "This doesn't look like my classroom." The educational system has been stuck in the past for decades. It has not caught up to the way our students learn today. The way this can best be described is to compare it to the car industry, which many of us in this community can relate to very easily. If General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler continued to use the same assembly line and format that they started in the early 1900's, where would be they be today? That is kind of where education is right now. In Grand Blanc, we are progressive and we know that working carefully and knowing that technology is not the "be all", that we can make a meaningful environment for our students and staff.

Design by NBS Commercial Interiors

At this time the district is planning on selling bonds for Series One around May 1, 2016. Bond money would be available around 4-6 weeks after that time. The first series will provide just under $8 million dollar in technology improvements across the district over a two year period.
As we move forward in coming weeks there will be a lot more to share with you including information from our school visitations, budget planning, and design updates. Please check back here for more details soon!