news-record.com

Western Alamance Middle School students recently spent time in the media center learning how to use the school’s new SMART Board.

They practiced putting together bibliography entries by touching the screen and dragging elements, such as the title and author, across the whiteboard.

“It makes (class) much more interactive,” said media specialist Paige Ysteboe .

Ysteboe can display Web sites and documents and write in digital ink on the screen.

The school’s Parent Teacher Organization raised about $3,600 to buy and install the technology.

The PTO wants to purchase three more smartboards for the school, but the group needs more parent involvement to reach that goal, president Ron Ingle said.

The school has more than 900 students, but only six or seven parents usually attend the monthly PTO meetings.

If more parents attended “they’d understand how hard it is for us to try to raise this money,” Ingle said. “They could connect more with the school and see what their children are doing in school and what tools we can provide them with to make their education better.”

Ingle said he’s pleased that the school has a PTO, since not all schools do, and is proud of the school, but that students will benefit if more parents get involved.

The school’s principals said parent involvement is often low in middle school because children are going through puberty and start to establish more independence from their parents.

Parents think they should start backing off but “it’s really the year you need to hold on a little tighter,” Assistant Principal Alan Scott said.

“If parent involvement is there, children will want to succeed,” principal Lizzie Alston said.

The PTO raises funds by hosting school dances and selling spirit wear, such as shirts and hoodies. Parents in the organization allow teachers to have “duty free” lunch each month by volunteering for cafeteria duty. About every two months the parents cook lunch for the teachers, as well.

Next month the PTO and Student Council will work together to landscape the front of the school.

PTO meetings usually are at 6:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month. For information go to www.wam.abss.k12.nc.us and find the PTO under the “People” tab.

Contact Jamie Kennedy Jones at jamie.kennedy@news-record.com or 449-4610.