BY SUE KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MIDDLETOWN - A state grant of about $1 million will allow Middletown - Monroe Schools to move forward with electrical upgrades necessary to support technology.
The district has already received 25 percent of the $997,853 grant, said Edmund Pokora, district treasurer. It will be distributed over three years.
Grant money will be used to pay for new transformers, a distribution system, grounding, conduits and wiring, said Superintendent Wayne Driscoll. Buildings earmarked for the first upgrades are McKinley and Taft elementary schools, Verity and Vail middle schools, and Middletown High School.
During the next three years, some work will be done at each of the buildings, thanks to the grant.
State's been good partner "The state has been a good partner,"
Mr. Driscoll said. "It will help our computers run more efficiently on a daily basis."
Since 1995, the district has spent more than $5 million to wire buildings and buy computers and software, Mr. Pokora said.
"We've been playing catch-up the last three years. We have to sit down now and plan for technology. Where do we want to go from here?"
The district became eligible to apply for the competitive PowerUp grant because of its past participation in Ohio's SchoolNet program, designed to improve and expand computer use in the state's classrooms. It has paid for wiring and the purchase of computers in certain grade levels in Ohio schools for qualifying districts.
Mr. Pokora said some work that the district completed over the summer could count as part of the district's share of the matching grant.
