The Political Whore

By Matt Wiley
CL intern

A cool educational opportunity in our next featured community in the National Civic League’s 2009 All-America City Awards (the conference convenes in Tampa next week), here is Clinton, N.C.:

Clinton, N.C.
Interactive Whiteboards

Clinton City Schools (CCS) has made it a priority to equip schools with engaging technology to prepare students to face the future.  An integral part of this endeavor included the goal of outfitting each classroom with an interactive whiteboard (IW).  An IW links a computer desktop to the board’s surface to allow: teaching with computer software and internet browsers, manipulation of computer data using finger touch or styli, saving of information created on the IW to a computer, capture of student responses using “Audience Response System,” and interactive learning that totally engages students. In 2006, IWs were placed in five classrooms.  One third grade class showed improvement from 61% proficiency on end-of-grade pretests to 90.48% proficiency on end-of-grade tests.  The excitement of this technology spurred the community to collaborate with CCS to ensure every classroom within CCS had an IW. Collaborations between CCS, citizens, businesses and nonprofits resulted in a series of projects that enabled IWs to be placed in each CCS classroom.

Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-18 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.

Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.

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