pairs cutting-edge infrastructure with intentional community connections. TECHNOLOGY AND ACADEMIC INNOVATION NWCSD’s strategic technology investments positioned the district to thrive during and beyond the pandemic. A critical Wi-Fi infrastructure upgrade, completed just before COVID-19 hit, proved transformative.“We didn’t have the ability to do what we actually needed to do in the pandemic,” Ljiljanich recalls, “we came in just under the wire with that.” The district now provides one-to-one Chromebook access and has extended internet subsidies to underserved families, ensuring equitable access. Federal funding through the American Rescue Plan propelled NWCSD’s STEM initiatives forward. “The Rescue Plan funding certainly helped us not only with the professional development side, but also the purchasing capacity to be able to deliver some of the instruction that we offer to our elementary students,” explains Thomas Stack, Assistant Superintendent for Personnel and Pupil Services. These resources expanded programs like Lego Robotics and drone soccer while upgrading technology infrastructure. To maximize these investments, NWCSD focused on both hardware and human capital.After-school STEM clubs now bridge classroom learning with real-world applications, supported by comprehensive teacher training. “Today, teachers are so well-equipped to work in a Google classroom or a Google school district,” Ljiljanich observes. “They’re able to go in and utilize all of the capabilities that program has to offer.” The results speak for themselves, “our kids are really flourishing because of it.” Looking ahead, the district sustains this momentum through a dedicated technology reserve. As Stack explains, “our district has done a really good job at creating a technology reserve to not only enhance our technology infrastructure, but make sure that we stay current with it so that we have a kind of a concurrent wheel of turning over our technology every five years or so to stay fresh with operating programs and things of that nature on the tech side.” 5 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 06 NIAGARA-WHEATFIELD CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
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