With every new school year come changes and this year CHS students discovered new flat screen computer monitors in place of the old CRT monitors and an upgrade to the computer program Windows 7.

According to Media Services Technician Scott Selman, MCPS schools receives new technology every four years. However, because of the recession, MCPS tacked on an extra year to each school’s technology lease. This past summer CHS’s five years of waiting were up and the computers were updated. The new computers have many benefits not found in the old ones.

“Almost every computer in the school has a flat screen monitor now,” Selman said. “It really cuts back on energy. LCD monitors use less electricity than a standard CRT monitor because CRT monitors have tubes in them that draw more electricity.”

According to IT Systems Specialist Robert Jones, the new computers have larger hard drives and hold the maximum amount of memory that can be used with the school’s 32 bit operating system.

“The programs we use in class seem to work better and load faster,” Foundations of Technology teacher Rebecca Smith said.

The new computers also continue the trend in technology of developing a sleeker style with increased power.

“They take up less room,” Smith said. “I feel like the room is more spacious so there is more room for students and more room to work.”

However, no change comes without its issues. With such a large scale technological change problems will appear.

“Over 600 computers got changed out, so there are bound to be problems with so many devices,” Selman said. “A lot of those problems don’t arise until all the teachers are back. We get a lot of new staff members and students and we need to make sure they can all log on.”

According to Selman, the computers connect to the Promethean boards differently than before. With the old computers, the Promethean board display was the same as the computer monitor, but now the two displays can be different.

“It is more of a learning curve for some teachers because they have to move from one screen to another now,” Selman said.

While it may take some time for students and teachers to adjust to the new computers and programming, the new technology has allowed CHS to take further steps into the ever-changing technology era.