JCS seeks donations for Chromebooks

Last spring, Jessamine County Schools Supt. Matt Moore approached the Jessamine County Education Foundation with a large goal in mind — to raise $140,000 by 2020 so every student in fourth through 12th-grade in JCS would have a Chromebook to help with class work.

Naming the project “2020 Vision for Technology for Jessamine County Schools,” the JCEF set out to accomplish this goal and is now reaching out to the community for donations.

“We are about a third of the way through this project, and we wouldn’t have gotten this far had it not been for the outstanding support of the school principals, teachers, and Parent Teach Organization,” JCEF member Brian Gillispie said. “The technology director for the schools, Erin Waggoner, is also on our foundation board and she has been the heart and soul of this project. Hopefully, with the generosity of our community, we can complete this project even before 2020.”

Gillispie said many classrooms in the district are already equipped with the right number of Chromebooks, and before the project began, many classrooms at Nicholasville Elementary School and East Jessamine High School were already well-equipped in multiple classrooms on campus.

Gillispie said the foundation has already spent $50,000 on 257 Chromebooks, which have since been donated to six elementary schools.

“These Chromebooks arrived the first week of school and are already in the classrooms being used,” Gillispie said. “This was money we had raised over many years of fundraisers. As you can see, we typically don’t raise the amount of money needed for this project so we would love to have local businesses and parents help us with this project. They can go on our website and donate directly. Each Chromebook is about $190.”

Chromebooks, Gillispie said, are not just a way for JCS students to stay busy in the classroom but come equipped with Google Classroom, which helps teach students how to use technology. This summer, Gillispie said many teachers in the JCS district volunteered their time to become certified to be a Google Classroom teacher by taking a 10-hour course that ended with a test.

“I think this really shows how dedicated Jessamine County teachers are,” Gillispie said. “By combining resources that many of the principals had plus the foundation’s donation, we have been able to add approximately 16 classrooms in the district to the list of classrooms that have a Chromebook for every student and this has just been in a short four months since the project began.”

Gillispie said he thinks Jessamine schools are equipped with the best teachers and hopefully this project will help the teachers in the district provide another tool to teach students.

“Our school system is so fortunate to have the Jessamine County Education Foundation’s partnership,” Moore said. “They have repeatedly supported our students and teachers, continuing to look for ways to strengthen our programs and the community. I am so thankful for their dedication to our students and their futures.”

To donate visit jessedfoundation.com.