Navigator Team donates SMART boards to schools

The Pike County Navigator Team recently made a nearly $12,000 donation to purchase SMART Boards for eight Pike County Schools special education classrooms from the pre-K to high school level. ’These boards will help so many students who do better with interactive learning and it will give students access to new learning materials and techniques,’ said Laurel Foust, secondary coordinator for the special education program at Pike County schools. ’This will allow us to give students a chance to touch and move items on the board such as clock, word, math and money manipulative programs. The students will want to engage more when they get to have a turn at the board.’The SMART Boards will also make it possible to post lesson plans online and email them to parents when students are absent from the classroom. The interactive SMART Board allows students to interact with programs and also displays touch input from a finger, pen or any other object. The SMART board acts as a whiteboard, computer and projector. ’Hopefully, this will open a lot of doors in communication especially for students like my son who have no verbal abilities,’ said Pike County Navigator Team leader April Cobb. ‘Using technology is one way he communicates with us and now he will have access to SMART boards all the way through school.’The funds were raised primarily through the Paris in Pike fashion show in the years since three fifth grade girls – Scarlett Mullis, Abbi Hood and Ashleighanna Johnson – came up with the idea in 2012.’We have always told people that 100% of the funds from Paris in Pike will stay in Pike County and be used to help kids here,’ said Cobb. ‘We are honored and happy to be able to make this donation.’The Pike County Navigator Team helps local parents of special needs students to access resources they need. The group has made several other donations in the past, including an iPad for the Pike County Elementary School classroom and two Lenovo ThinkPads to help two local visually impaired students. ’The local Pike Navigator Team works in collaboration with the schools and helps get information and resources together for parents of students with disabilities,’ said director of teaching and learning Jennifer Allison. ‘The Navigator Team’s very generous donation of eight Smart Boards will be used by students in pre-K through high school in every self-contained special education classroom.’Donations to the Pike County Navigator Team are tax deductible and will be used to help local students with disabilities. For more on the local Navigator Team, email aprilcobb74@gmail.com, tinallee@bellsouth.net or call 770-567-1218.