By Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LOVELAND - Sometimes your neighbor is a better judge of what you need than you are.

That's why two northern Hamilton County school districts - Loveland and Madeira - have for the first time formed a partnership to evaluate each other's education technology needs and problems.

By working together, the two districts will save thousands of dollars that otherwise would have been spent on each school system hiring private consultants to review their school technologies.

"We are all facing similar challenges with the effective use of technology, so why not put our human resources together and help each other out?" said Loveland Superintendent Kevin Boys. "This is a great opportunity to gather an outsider's perspective on how we are using technology in our classrooms."

Trisha Ward, Loveland's instructional technology supervisor, said having Madeira officials review Loveland's technology is key to planning what technologies will be purchased and how they will be most effectively applied.

"Once we know where we are, we can move on to make specific plans for the future that will lead to increased student success," said Ward, who said there are about 900 computers in the 4,300-student district, but they are largely concentrated in grades K-5.

Madeira Superintendent Stephen Kramer praised the new partnership as cost-effective but comprehensive.

"What we get out of it is an independent look at how we are using our technology and integrating it into our curricula, and it turned out that Loveland was looking to go through the same process,'' Kramer said.

He said there are about 800 computers being used in the 1,500-student district.

Officials from both districts plan to meet in March to examine their respective technology reviews.

E-mail mclark@enquirer.com