SAD 27 directors shown new laptops

ST. FRANCIS – The SAD 27 board of directors got its first look at new technology Monday night when local pupils showed off their new laptop computers.

Nearly 100 of the new Macintosh iBooks have been placed with seventh-graders and teachers throughout most of the district. A group of St. Francis Elementary School pupils put the machines through their paces at the start of Monday’s board meeting.

“The kids are just delighted with the computers,” Superintendent Sandra Bernstein said Tuesday morning. “The board was very pleased. The students have a good handle on how to use them.”

The laptops are part of Gov. Angus King’s statewide initiative to place computers with every grade-seven pupil this year and all eighth-graders next year.

While pupils in Eagle Lake, St. Francis and Wallagrass have their computers, Bernstein said pupils in Fort Kent would get theirs after the annual harvest break in September.

In other board action, Bernstein said the results of a Maine School Management Association safety audit were presented and will be addressed within in the next 30 days. The association is the district’s workers’ compensation and liability carrier.

“Overall the audit was good,” the superintendent said, “But there were some recommendations.”

Among the recommendations, the MSMA suggested:

. Connecting school library fire alarms in Eagle Lake and St. Francis to systems in the main buildings.

. Reviewing the procedures for placing chains at the end of the school day on some school exits.

. Examining the magnetic releases on some fire doors in school buildings.

. Chemicals in the classrooms – including cleansers and air fresheners – should be removed and stored properly.

“These audits are good to have and help keep us safe,” Bernstein said.