Students returned from an unusually short winter break to find Choate Rosemary Hall updated with some flashy new technology. At the discretion of Headmaster Shanahan, multiple computer stations and three gigantic LCD televisions placed on the campus. A budget of $34,000 was approved for the project, which came in slightly under budget at $27,000.

The administration decided to begin the pilot program by placing televisions and kiosks in areas with the most traffic, which they concluded to be the athletics building, dining hall and admissions building. The television placed in Hill House is a 42 inch flat screen LG LCD TV, while the athletics building boasts a 50 inch flat screen LG LCD TV.

Many students have questioned the locations of the televisions. Paul Gaffney ’09 stated, “The television in the dining hall is not in a location as good as the [television] in the athletics building. The television in the dining hall is completely unnecessary.”

In addition to the televisions, six kiosks were installed on campus, two in the dining hall and four in the athletics building. Mrs. Wallace, Dean of Academic Affairs stated, “…the kiosks were put in for students, teachers and guests to get quick access to a computer in order to check email or anything else that they need to do.”

The televisions and kiosks were funded from the yearly technology budget. Mr. Speyer, the Acting Director of ITS stated, “This pilot program was Mr. Shanahan’s idea, and it was funded entirely by the school.”

According to Mrs. Wallace, the administration had numerous reasons behind installing the televisions and kiosks. The televisions were put in to update students on important national and world news. The kiosks were set up to provide quick internet access to anyone that may need it. Both the televisions and kiosks are meant to display Choate’s use of technology in public places in a non-intrusive manner.

Regardless, some students feel that the televisions are too intrusive. Fred Massotta ’08 commented, “The presence of [televisions] is detrimental to the warm atmosphere at Choate rosemary Hall.”

The television in Hill House is currently controlled by ITS to play either CNN or ESPN. Similarly, the television in the athletics building can either play Fox News or ESPN, however both turn to CPTV for the PBS Nightly News at seven o’clock.

Mrs. Wallace explained, “The administration decided on alternating between Fox News and CNN to prevent people from accusing the school of being too liberal or too conservative.”

Mr. Speyer noted, “We are working on creating a rotating schedule of news channels, as suggested by some students.”

There are students who are strong supporters of the current channels programmed on the televisions. Marcus Devito ’07 said, “[The televisions] are great for entertainment. I was walking through the dining hall the other day and [the television] was playing Bob the Builder on CPTV, a show I love to watch at home….its wonderful spending our money on our LCD televisions to watch the news and shows like Bob the Builder, it’s definitely well spent money.”

As for future plans of implanting new technology, Mrs. Wallace said that more televisions and kiosks may be installed on campus. Additionally, next year, some of the math classrooms will have tablet PCs, so that students and teachers can write equations and draw graphs directly on them to display to the class. The Students Activities Center will also be updated very soon with 42 inch LCD televisions similar to those in the admissions building and Hill House.

The new technology that will be placed in classrooms, as Mrs. Wallace stated, “is in response to the individual requests of the teachers and the academic departments.”

Likewise Mr. Shanahan explained his future plans for this technology pilot program on campus, stating, “I would like other technology like touch screens as opposed to flat screen monitors on campus. I don’t think we have mastered the content of the monitors yet. I’d like them to also show daily schedules and campus maps for visitors.”

“I want our kids to be up to date on current events,” said Mr. Shanahan.