In the next few weeks, students will notice a significant upgrade in some of their classrooms: 85-inch Samsung smart televisions.
The TVs, mounted above classroom white boards, on side walls, or in corners, will replace the aging projectors and pull-down screens that were installed with the campus’s construction in 1989.
“The new TVs will enhance our campus by making learning more interactive and engaging,” Bryson Burns, assistant principal, said. “These upgrades will create a more supportive academic environment, which, in turn, should lead to higher academic achievement.”
The installing of the TVs is already underway in the campus’s west wing. On Dec. 21, 2024, Brea Olinda Unified School District’s (BOUSD) Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation (MOT) team began replacing the 36-year old projector screens with the new TVs. As of Jan. 17, the MOT team has completed installing TVs in three classrooms.
A shipment of 24 TVs was delivered to campus Jan. 15. With more TV wall mounts and TVs expected to arrive this week, installation in 47 classrooms will continue over the four weekends, according to Jeff Ferrato, BOUSD Administrative Director of Facilities and MOT.
“From start to finish, the maintenance team can install one electrical outlet, TV mount, and secure the TV, in an estimated three hours,” Ferrato said.
Some of the benefits of the TV include: Teachers can connect to the smart TVs directly from their computers, versus routing their screens through a projector; the TVs negate the need of a projector, its tangle of wires, and cart or stand; and the TV monitor is many-times brighter.
“I don’t have to mess around with the lighting [in my classroom],” Min Kim, math teacher, said. “We won’t have to shut off one or both of the lights and students in the back rows will be able to see better.”
Students in classes that already have the new TVs, like Phara Cherdsuriya’s math classes, have expressed enthusiasm for the new technology.
“I could never read the [white] board because I couldn’t see what [my teachers] were writing, so I had to resort to taking photos from afar,” Tiffany Jiang (‘26) said. Now, the clarity of the large TV helps Jiang see her teacher’s lessons more easily on days she forgets to bring her glasses.
Emily Rodarte (‘26) also noted that the TVs make lessons “easier to see from the back of the class.”
Nikki Albano (‘26) noticed how much “easier to see” the TVs are. Albano is also grateful for the TV’s ease-of-use. “The projector sometimes malfunctioned and caused disruptions,” Albano said. “Teachers would [also] have problems connecting their devices and struggle to switch between” the projector and their personal device.
Math teacher Anthony DeLeon, whose TV was installed in December, is “nothing but positive about the TV because a lot of the students are able to engage in the lessons a lot better [versus] the old projector.”
However, some BOHS teachers expressed skepticism about the new technology.
Shelley Weiseth, science teacher, will be receiving a TV, but admitted that the smart TVs are “not her favorite choice” for projecting lessons. “The TVs are going to be even smaller [than my projector screen]. You get tired looking at a TV, whereas you don’t get tired looking at a projector [screen].”
Johnpaul Wilson, history teacher, prefers using a projector as “they don’t create many WiFi issues,” like the Apple TV devices, the primary streaming device the TVs use.
Brittany Kurtz, history teacher, entered a classroom without a projector screen when she was hired at BOHS in 2017. Since then, she has been projecting content onto a “screen” she created herself using butcher paper and colorful borders, and connecting to audio using 25-foot long HDMI cords she purchased herself.
While she looks forward to having a TV installed above her white board, she prefers the size of the pull down screen (which a student’s parent gifted her last summer, but has yet to be installed) and the durability of a projector.
“The WiFi in my room is so weak that Apple TVs don’t work,” Kurtz said.
Funding for the TVs comes from the state of California’s Title IV educational grant, intended to further academic development in schools state-wide through enrichment programs and advances in digital literacy through technology. The amount of funding allocated varies per school district. After the state’s calculations, the total cost for all TVs and installation at BOHS came out to $135,548. The cost of all parts, including the TVs ($999 each) and mounting hardware came out to $60,771.
Not all BOHS classrooms will receive TVs. Some teachers, like Introduction to Film teacher Laurel Batchelor and yearbook adviser Amanda Huson, prefer their jumbo-sized pull-down screens which are more suitable for displaying media — like movies and yearbook pages — to their students. Other classrooms, like those in M building that have larger, retractable screens, received new laser projectors last summer.
Due to the unique construction of each classroom, the MOT team has encountered some challenges during the installation process. Some classrooms have cinder block walls, and others, difficult-to-penetrate aluminum studs.
“No two walls are built alike, but the [MOT] team has been moving along at a good pace,” Ferrato said.
Once MOT is finished with the installation, BOUSD’s tech team will set up WiFi and Apple TV devices.
The installation of all 47 TVs will be completed by mid-February, according to Ferrato.
Correction: The original version of this story stated that 51 TVs will be installed. The correct number is 47.