Fort Payne City Schools Find New Ways to Engage Students

FORT PAYNE, Ala. – Of the 132 school districts in Alabama, Fort Payne City Schools may have the most engaging classrooms of all. Believing it would produce dramatic results in student achievement, last year the school district decided on a bold course to deploy interactive classroom technology across the entire school system.

Fort Payne School Superintendent Jim Cunningham, along with his Technology Coordinator Greg Titshaw, other central office staff and the members of the board of education, chose to raise the funds necessary to supply almost every classroom with a ceiling-mounted projector, an interactive whiteboard, a document camera, a wireless presentation slate, a student response system, and a teacher microphone. The school district chose Computrac Interactive Solutions (now part of RM Educational Software) to do the job.

Last May, Computrac’s installation team worked during the evenings in Fort Payne for more than two full weeks to complete the job, which encompassed 150 classrooms in four schools.

Mr. Cunningham expressed his delight over the way the project was handled in a letter to the CEO of Computrac. Here is what he had to say. “A wise man once stated, ‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression.’ While I believe this statement has merit when evaluating individuals, I feel that it is also true for businesses. I wanted to take just a moment to tell you that you and your company, Computrac, have definitely made an unbelievably positive impression on myself and the other members of my staff which were involved with your recent installation project. The installation of 150 Mitsubishi projectors, 125 Light Speed sound systems and 150 Elmo document cameras was accomplished professionally and within the prescribed time frame. Your entire installation team was very accommodating and flexible in working within the conditions and time parameters which you were given. While these conditions, dictated because school was in session, could have and probably did on occasion cause stress and frustration it was never evident in the attitudes or actions of your staff. You are to be commended for assembling such a hardworking, dedicated and professional group of individuals. I have been involved in public education for 26 years and have never encountered a group that was so determined to do things the right way!

“Again, thank you for all your help and the wonderful job you did for us. Please be assured that I will gladly recommend you and your company. Best of luck in your future endeavors and please know that I would welcome the opportunity to work with you again should the situation arise.”

With thanks to Jim Cunningham, Fort Payne School Superintendent, Fort Payne, AL.