Keeping technology on the cutting edge in our schools is a priority, and the county school board was proper to get excited about adding more technology to the classroom.

During Thursday’s retreat, a recurring meeting format in which board members and selected school personnel keep the discussion on a narrow range of topics, something called a SMART Board was a guest of honor.

In short Alaina Parker and Allison Francis, teachers from Capron Elementary School, demonstrated how they use the $2,500 touch-sensitive screen in their classes, projecting laptop-based lessons onto the screen, which can then be operated much like a large computer desktop.

The teachers told School Board members that their students are excited when they see the whiteboard in their classrooms.

When students get excited, they are more apt to learn. School Supt.

Charles Turner has plans to get six to nine of the interactive screens in each of the county’s schools by the beginning of the school year.

It’s a step in the right direction.