Still trying to pad the district’s bottom line with numerous small endeavors, the City of Tonawanda School Board approved several efforts at their Tuesday meeting.
Among the actions, the board accepted 19 donated computers from the New York State Thruway Authority and a donation of $335 from Target. The board also voted to auction a 1993 F-350 at www.auctionsinternational.com.
“We’re always looking for ways to supplement our income,” said Peter Michaelsen, assistant superintendent for finance. “It shows the taxpayer that we’re trying to find alternative revenue sources.”
The 19 computers, which will be distributed among the high school and middle school, come via an agreement with the state Department of Education where municipal computers are recycled for those in need, Michaelsen said.
Barbara Peters, district superintendent, said that “need” is a good word for it.
“We need to constantly and continually accept donations,” Peters said. “So that the budget can be used for items that aren’t available that way.”
At the rate technology advances, there is no way for the school district to stay completely updated, Peters said.
“In Tonawanda, we have what we believe is state of the art technology, and six months later we have sales people coming in and saying what we have is already old,” she said.
The district has 200 to 300 computers that need to be updated, and the Dell Pentium 550 computers from the Thruway Authority are a significant upgrade, Michaelsen said. Though they are free from the Thruway Authority, the district still must spend about $50 per computer for Microsoft Office. They bring the total number of computers received by the district through the program to about 100.
Target’s gift of $335 to the district is actually a reimbursement through the “Partners in Education” program the company runs through school districts.
“It amounts to about $1,500 a year from Target to the school district,” Michaelsen said.
Target gives back to the school district a percentage of school supply sales that come from parents and teachers in the district, as long as they supply the store with a code for the district, Michaelsen said.
The Web site on which the truck is being auctioned specializes in the sale of municipal vehicles, Michaelsen said. He hopes the truck, which served as a snow-plow and a courier-vehicle for the district, fetches at least $500.
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