REEDSPORT — The ball-point marked the end of the fountain pen era. Calculators replaced slide rules.

Now teachers in Reedsport School District 105 may ditch the lacquer-like odor and squeak of markers, as they say farewell to their dry-erase boards.

Classrooms at Reedsport Junior/Senior High School and Highland Elementary will adopt digital white boards next year when it becomes a charter school on Feb. 1.

Oregon Department of Education granted the charter school start-up money for staff training will cover the cost of many improvements to technology at the high school, said principal Laura Davis.

“A big part of that is going to be using technology efficiently,” she said.

As early as next winter, students could begin using laptops and wireless networks on campus, as the school anticipates more Internet and technology-oriented classwork, Davis said.

More work will be based on computers — from Web searches to PowerPoint presentations — work that reflects a real-world trend, Davis said.

“Kids are going to need these skills in their future business, or in life,” she said.

The charter school also will use interactive boards.

District Superintendent Ike Launstein said the technological changes will streamline classwork.

“We can transmit more knowledge quickly,” Launstein said.

Launstein also hopes the new tools motivate students.

“It ... keeps the kids engaged and with you,” he said.

But first the district will teach its teachers.

“What a fantastic tool,” Launstein said. “But if we don’t give teachers training, then what good are they?”

The district received about $23,000 in grants for teacher training, including technology, out of about $56,000 awarded for the school’s planning phase. It then will have $79,980 in Phase-Two funds to purchase electronics such as digital whiteboards or computers.

A handful of the school’s more than 300 students are enrolled in computer technology classes. Those students are taught computer hardware and software basics — troubleshooting and fixing computers or programming languages.

Computer tech students are working with district technology staff to plan the charter school’s wireless network infrastructure. They also may start completing computer work orders for the district; a sort of vocational computer program, said technology teacher Guy Marchione.

Marchione said the school already has a similar program in place at American Bridge for metal and woodshop students.

Some teachers will need to adapt, Davis said.

“Staff that’s been here 20, 30 years is not going to have the same kind of (background) as teachers that have been to the academic level in the last five years,” Davis said.