New School Year Brings a Few Improvements

Students and teachers in Woodridge School District 68 are putting new additions to use this fall in the classroom and the gymnasium – 60 SMART Boards and one gym floor.

Each SMART Board costs $3,000, said Kevin Wegner, business manager for District 68. Last summer, the district added 80 SMART Boards to its seven schools.

"We're 80 percent complete," Wegner said. "We'd love to have SMART Boards in 100 percent of our classrooms, but we don't want to put a SMART Board with a teacher that doesn't see the benefit in it and wouldn't utilize it."

SMART Boards resemble a dry erase white board but also respond to touch. A projector fixed to the room's ceiling projects the screen's display. Teachers and students can access the Internet, specially designed applications and software.

At Jefferson Jr. High School, a new gym floor replaces the worn-out 38-year-old tile floor. Wegner said many pieces of tile kept popping up.

The gym floor is made by LG and cost the district $58,000. The floor was installed in rolled sheets that were welded together. Cass Junior High School in Darien and Gower Middle School in Burr Ridge have the same gym floor.

The floor is easier on student's bodies.

"Tile is much harder on their knees and joints," Wegner said. "This material has some padding and some shock absorption capabilities, so it's a lot easier to run on for joints."

It also gives the gym a nice aesthetic, said Gail Hartig, head of the Jefferson physical education department.

"It's a lot cleaner looking," Hartig said. "We had an old, old floor. We're excited to have a new one."

The district originally wanted to put in wood flooring that would have cost $180,000. But that would have required the school to raise the gym floor, add ramps and reconfigure doorways,

"It was going to be way too expensive to put in the wood floor, and we were not willing to accept some negative that came along with the wood floor," Wegner said.