Projectors are soon to become a thing of the past for Garden City High School and USD 457. Projectors have been a school staple since the 1950s, starting with overhead projector and transitioning to the digital projector in the 1990s and early 2000s. Many generations of students have come and gone from elementary to high school with the projector as a central part to their education. From starting as a way to present movie strips to being used to teach entire lessons, teachers have relied on these projectors day in and day out. Recently, USD 457 has decided to phase out these projectors and opt for large flat-screen TVs instead. The school district has recently run into some issues with the projectors.
“The lifespan of a projector is about 10 years, and they are more than 10 years old at this point,” Chassidy Ruvalcaba, sysop, said.
Considering the new high school opened in 2012, most projectors in the building are reaching the end of their lifespan leading to issues such as: brightness and image quality issues, along with dying bulbs and the overall inability to function.
“My projector died completely at the end in May of the school year [in 2024], so I spent the rest of the year without projection capability,” Aimee Brandt, science teacher, said.
Due to maintenance issues and the expenses of replacing projector bulbs, to conserve money, the district decided to switch to TVs.
“It’s a nuisance to the teachers, they sometimes struggle with projecting information to the students. It seems that occasionally [the projectors] break down, it’s a lot more hassle to own a projector than a TV,” Emmanuel Diaz, Trade senior, said.
Many students also have had trouble seeing what was being projected with glare and brightness as common factors.
“I can see the information more on a TV than a projector,” Diaz said
Teachers for the most part have mixed feelings regarding the switch. Benefits of the projectors included being able to project onto whiteboards, allowing students and teachers alike the ability to annotate the lesson. Teachers also had the ability to freeze the screen allowing them to complete other tasks while students worked on the lesson. Brandt prefers the TV because she can teach on her iPad using notability and she feels that students are able to see more clearly.
