Students in Dale Heimbigner’s Explore Math class at Tahoma Middle School had fingers at the ready hovering over gray and orange voting pads.

“We’re learning how to take a quiz,” Heimbigner explained to the five members of the Tahoma School District board of directors. “This is the first practice with active vote testing.”

The board was touring the district with plans to stop at every school on Feb. 6. In some schools, like Tahoma Middle, they visited classrooms and watched teachers work while at others like Cedar River Middle they met with students to learn about innovative things kids were doing to make their schools better.

What they saw in Heimbigner’s classroom is some of the new technology students and teachers have at their disposal like the vote pads connected to a computer that projects information to interactive white boards.

Active vote testing allows teachers to see immediately how many of their students are grasping concepts and recording results to the computer, which allows them to track progress of the class as a whole and as individual pupils.

The day began with Krispy Kreme donuts and presentations from ninth graders at Tahoma Junior High about its “Be the Change” initiative to improve the school’s culture.

Rob Morrow, Tahoma High principal, asked president Joe Vreeburg what the board wanted to see when they visited his school.

“He said, ‘Show me what you’re most proud of,’” Morrow said. “These folks here, as the core of it, are really making a change. Our goal is to weave this into the fabric of our school.”

Students at Tahoma Junior High have worked to challenge their classmates through activities like Friendship Week and Challenge Day that pushed the teens out of their comfort zones by encouraging them to talk to people they normally wouldn’t or sit at different tables in the lunch room.

Morrow said he believes it has made the school a better place.

Board member Mary Jane Glaser was impressed with the students who presented information about “Be the Change” as well as the strides the school has made to improve the learning environment there.

“It’s so encouraging to hear your school culture changing for the positive,” Glaser said. “These are the things we as a school board want to support.”

As the board got ready to leave, Krispy Kreme donuts were offered and the members munched them as they headed back to the school bus that transported them around the district.

Later in the morning they visited Cedar River Middle School where they met with students in the library who talked about the different things the students are doing to be more involved at the school and in Maple Valley in general.

The youngsters all had prepared notes and held cards in front of them to stay on track as they talked about programs like Power It Up, a project that allows more students to take on leadership roles while promoting friendship and kindness, as well as community service efforts they’ve taken on during the school year among other things.

Principal Mark Koch said he was proud of what his students have accomplished so far and they’re planning bigger and better things for next school year.

“The theme that runs through is that not only do we want to make our school a better place but the community as well,” Koch said. “It’s really inspiring.”

Tami Henkel said that this is one of the highlights of being on the board.

“We get to do this once a year,” Henkel said. “So, we really look forward to this.”