During spring semester, Buena transitioned from using the Hitachi projectors to the Promethean ActivPanel which have been put into most of the classrooms across the campus. This shift has cost the district $3,750 per unit as compared to the Hitachi projectors which cost around $2,400. 

“The company making the projector stopped making parts for it,” Assistant Principal over technology Tina Perez, said.  “Instead of buying a part from the company we would have to possibly look online to find a replacement part for the projectors.” 

Due to the stop in Hitachi’s production, the district decided to buy the Promethean Boards which cost VUSD three million to purchase 800 panels. 

Teachers, who are not required to use the new technology, received some optional training Prometheans on “Professional Development” days, which are days where teachers meet up with instructors to get a rundown on how to use new equipment and in this case it was the Promethean.

“They [VUSD] gave us around 10+ Professional Development days…when I went to the meetings they showed us the basics of the board,” English teacher Kailynn Taylor said. 

The development days improved the teachers’ usage of the Prometheans, but, as of now, the boards have just been “used as giant monitors by most teachers,” Perez said.

Besides that, some teachers have found ways to use the annotation and drawing features on the boards to improve their methods of teaching their classes. Others wish the boards offered additional engagement tools. 

“I just wish there were more fun activities on the board that had more student involvement,” Taylor said. 

As the boards are projected to have a decade long lifespan in the school system, they are here to stay. 

“We need technology to teach our classes. It started with a chalkboard, then we got projectors and overhead projectors, this is just the latest iteration of technology that allows us to present information to students,” Math teacher Michael Stewart said.