For Tahoma, the transition started in 1994, when the first technology plan was created by the Tahoma School District Technology Committee (TSDTC). It was revised in 1997 and 2000, and was later updated in 2003.

The TSDTC is an internal committee within the school district which sets a vision and goals for the School District in terms of the use of technology in education instruction. The TSDTC receives recommendations from a community tech advisory committee. The Tahoma Board of Directors approves the tech plans each summer, while the state renews them every three years.

Among the goals met since the technology plan was first introduce was teacher-student access to computers, Internet, staff email addresses and a district-wide standard for software/hardware configurations.

Walt Szklarski, Instructional Technology Coordinator, worked as a teacher at Cedar River Middle School six years ago. Then he had to schedule his class four days in advance to be able to use the computer lab. Teachers were also lucky to have a computer in their classroom.

The TSDTC, he said, has helped the school district keep up with technology by anticipating what will be essential for classroom instruction four years down the road, which included the need for student and teacher access to computers. In 2005, every teacher in the Tahoma School District was given a laptop. A year later, wireless Internet was available in all of the schools.

But the biggest change came when voters approved the district’s second tech levy in February 2010, which over four years will bring $10.9 million.

Through it, the Tahoma School District was able to purchase a total of 2,500 netbooks for student use — with another 300-400 to be available by the end of this school year — creating portable labs which can be brought to any classroom. The netbooks, Szklarski said, generally retain a three to four year lifespan before they are replaced. Additionally, every administrator within the Tahoma School District has an iPad.

It’s a far cry from when the schools were purchasing surplus computers and monitors from the Kent School District for $1, according to Jamie Mercer, a seventh grade special education teacher at Tahoma Middle School.

“They had definitely seen better years,” Mercer said. “But that was all we had. They did the job. We didn’t need the high powered software.”

Now Mercer has a laptop, an up-to-date computer, as well as an interactive whiteboard in her classroom. She said that technology levy helped the school district transition from using technology as a tool to making the classroom instruction revolve around it.

“Without the passage of the tech levy by the community, none of this would have been possible,” Mercer said. “It makes it a heck of a lot more fun for the kids. It makes my job a lot easier.”