The Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) Board of Education meeting on May 21 included a spirited discussion about the use of iPads in classrooms. That topic in turn led to a debate about increased classroom sizes at El Rodeo Elementary School this fall. Members of the community argued that the portion of the budget the board set aside for iPads could have gone to hiring additional faculty so that classrooms could remain at the same size as other campuses such as Hawthorne Elementary and Horace Mann Elementary. Despite hearing the concerns, the board approved the motion to purchase iPads to assist with elementary level classes at El Rodeo and Horace Mann.
The approval of 100 new iPads came after El Rodeo’s new principal, Sarah Kaber, explained the benefits of using them in science classrooms and special education. Most of the devices are used in Maker Space, which is a hands-on science class for all age groups. Within this class, iPads assist students in computer science and 3D printing. A large portion of them are also used for students with an individualized education program, to teach lessons digitally, where each student would otherwise be unable to have a teacher’s undivided attention. Kaber also spoke about the benefits of using iPads as early as transitional kindergarten (TK) to show students how to move their mouths to pronounce certain words. The use of these devices would be extremely limited in TK.
