MoCo Schools Receive Over $900,000

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Several smartboards and other technology will be replaced within the next year, as Montgomery County Schools recently announced that the district has received a grant to improve distant learning and telehealth services.

During her report to the Montgomery County Board of Education on Monday, December 15, Superintendent Ronda Hightower explained that the district has been awarded a Distance Learning Technology (DLT) grant just one year after having received the Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) grant, which provided the school system with $499,000 to improve several district safety continued from page

measures. “You may remember last year, [Federal Programs Director Julie Harrelson and Technology Director Billy Goodwin] did all the work to apply for a COPS grant and we got around half a million in funding for several things, mainly some technology upgrades that we see around here and several security measures. But they’ve done it again – they applied for a distance learning technology grant, and we have been awarded $907,000 for our district thanks to the work that these two [individuals] did,” she emphasized.

Harrelson and Goodwin elaborated on the grant, as they explained how the district planned to use the funding.

“Basically, what this grant is going to do is it's going to expand our access for students to high quality learning experiences. We're going to be able to offer distance learning so that they're not limited to just what resources are here just in the district. It will also provide professional development for teachers and for nurses and counselors and everyone that is involved in what we call the telemedicine and telehealth, which is also part of the grant,” Harrelson began. “The value add is that we have a lot of tech needs coming up. So, in preparing to be able to have distance learning and provide telehealth and telecounseling, [getting this updated equipment is] going to meet the needs of a lot of things that Billy had on his list coming up. It’s just a great time and it's a great opportunity.”

Goodwin added, “We're excited. The biggest thing that [this grant is] going to do is it's going to allow us to replace all smart panels throughout the school system — smart panels average about $5,000 a piece. [The current ones] were put in the school system five or six years ago with another grant. And as Dr. Hightower knows, they are slowly dying. We were trying to find ways that we were going to continue using that technology, and with this grant, we'll be able to put all new smart panels in each classroom and update that technology.”

He continued, “It's also going to allow us to replace all teacher and employee laptops. Those will probably become end of life around next year or the year after.”

Another project that the funding will cover is the installation of updated audio and video equipment in the Montgomery County Board of Education office’s auditorium. “So I know that's something that's lacking and something that has been needed done for a while,” he remarked.

Goodwin clarified that every piece of new equipment will have a webcam, allowing students to use the devices for new learning opportunities through distance learning, or telehealth services, such as telecounseling.

Hightower also commented on the grant, stating that the funding came at a pivotal time, as the district’s federal funding had been cut for the 2025/2026 school year and would be cut again for the 2026/2027 school year. “It was going to be very rough, considering the budget that we're looking at from upcoming state funding and the lack thereof that's coming for us next year,” she explained. “Being able to replace those aging panels and laptops is a blessing, but to expand to telemedicine is going to be a beautiful thing for our students. And being able to host things in our auditorium [will be exciting].”