FLEMING ISLAND – The School Board voted against the purchase of Achieve 3000, a Blended Literacy Program for third-through-10th grade students, which would have cost the district $619,995.

The discussion around the technology software that provides text sets, activities and individual reading levels for students, along with embedded and benchmark assessments, revolved around cost and two other issues: how much students would use the program and the place technology has in the classroom. Some board members said that enough technological tools are already available.

Superintendent David Broskie and some of the board members considered tabling the complex item until their September meeting. But Michele Hanson, who strongly opposed the item, cited her background in education and wanted to vote. Board member Erin Skipper agreed

“Vote! Vote!,” some members of the audience yelled.

Hanson emphasized organically engaging students.

“You have to teach and reteach before a child reads an article, the standard you’re trying to assess,” she said.

Bolla was the only one to say “yes.” Bolla maintained her ideology the item was a useful educational tool for students. For example, through Achieve 3000, higher-achieving and lower-achieving students could dissect an article on the same topic, written for different reading levels, and then come together to deliberate concepts, she said.

In other business, teachers and students from the School District’s Career and Technical programs were recognized for earning national honors.

Maria Behnken was the National Middle School Advisor of the Year, and Jayna Lauer earned first place for National Career Prep for the Technology Student Association. Chandani Armogan, Jayna Lauer and Greyson Tompkins earned fifth place for Inventions and Innovations, while Bobby Baggett, Timothy McKeehan and Tompkins earned sixth place for System Control for the Technology Student Association. Shawn Saint-Vilus earned first place for Future Business Leaders of America’s Mission and Pledge. Clay County also received high benchmarks for this year’s State Assessment reviews, which Broskie presented.

Students not only ranked higher than other Florida counties in many of these categories but also performed much better overall, testing at a much higher level than other counties in the state.

Clay finished No. 2 in sixth-grade English Language Arts, No. 6 in 10th-grade ELA, No. 3 in sixth-grade math, No. 5 in eighth-grade math, No. 3 in Algebra One, No. 6 in fifth-grade science, No. 6 in eighth-grade science, No. 1 in seventh-grade Civics, No. 4 in U.S. History and No. 2 in Social Studies.