The Newton County School Board changed direction on which company will supply the district with new Clear Touch interactive touchscreen panels for the classrooms.

In a unanimous vote, 5-0, the board approved a one-year contract with Toccoa, Georgia-based LeCroy Technology. The contract is worth $262,128.

Funds from the 2015 fiscal year general fund will be used to pay the contract.

An interactive panel looks similar to a flatscreen TV. Users can manipulate images and text on the screen with the just their hand.

Newton County School System Technology Director Gary Shattuck says that these new panels would replace interactive white boards, which have projectors and interactive projectors in the county’s classrooms.

Last month, the board had approved a $226,503 contract with Greenville, South Carolina-based Encore Technology Group, LLC to distribute the panels, but soon after the contract was award to the company, Encore Technology indicated they would not be able to deliver the panels at the agreed upon price.

The company indicated they had made a pricing calculation error during the bidding process. The board subsequently moved on to the lowest priced vendor.

In other school business:

The board agreed that students do not have to make up to two unplanned school closing days.

The first missed day was related specifically to the Oak Hill Elementary School students not going to school because of a Gastroenteritis outbreak that spread throughout the school and caused the Newton County School System to shut down the school on Dec. 12.

The second missed day concerns all the schools in the county being closed last week, Feb. 18, due to inclement weather.

The board also appointed newly elected board member Stan Edwards, District 1, to be their 2015 Georgia School Board Association delegate for the summer conference in June. Eddie Johnson, District 2, is his alternate.