Louisiana’s first lady visits Richard

Supriya Jindal points to one of the new interactive whiteboards at Richard Elementary as first grade student Hunter Touchet demonstrates how it is used. Two new whiteboards were presented to Richard Elementary by the Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana's Children.

CAROLYN HART

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BY CAROLYN HART
LSN STAFF WRITER

Louisiana's first lady, Supriya Jindal, visited Richard Elementary on December 17, awarding two new interactive whiteboard systems to each of the school's first grade classrooms.
The whiteboards were acquired through her foundation, the Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana's Children. The award package includes Promethean interactive whiteboards with a speaker system, an interactive response system that allows students to actively participate in the lesson, all installation and instructor training for all teachers.
Mrs. Jindal conducted the first lesson on the new whiteboards with the first grade classes in the school library. Student volunteers answered her questions about coins and change by pointing to the correct answer on the whiteboard using a "pen" like apparatus. Students could also interact with hand held devices. Their answers registered on the whiteboard with the push of a button.
"This modernizes the classroom," said Mrs. Jindal. "It is more interactive for the students, and academic gains are greater in classrooms with whiteboards. It is important to provide children with as many educational opportunities as possible."
According to Mrs. Jindal's foundation, "a study shows a 17-29 percentile gain in academic achievement in classrooms with such systems versus classrooms without."
Mrs. Jindal said she hopes to place whiteboards in all classrooms. In Acadia Parish, 143 of the interactive whiteboards have been placed in classrooms in 14 schools since August.
Some of the funding for the project has come from stimulus money, some from local funding and some through grant money. The funding also provides for professional development of teachers.
She thanked the teachers "who really make the interactive whiteboards special." Richard Elementary received their whiteboards through a grant written by APSB Supervisor of Technology Jill Doga and Richard Elementary Instructional Assistant Ann Leger.
Representatives of the Acadia Parish School Board a Point visiting for Mrs. Jindal's visit were Acadia Parish School Board Superintendent John Bourque, Curriculum Direction Margaret Jones, Middle School Supervisor Gerald Hardy and Ms. Doga. The Town of Church Point was represented by Mayor Roger Boudreaux and Councilwomen MiMi Doucet and Joy Daigle.