Technology is taboo . .

in my county. Like stepping back in time into a time machine, technology in education is non-existent. Emerging technologies are unheard of. I tried to push through a blog project where my 9th graders would create their own blog with their original poetry as well as their responses to poetry. The students were excited, the parents were excited -- everyone but the technology department of my county was excited. According to them, the Federal Protection Law of 2000 is the reason I cannot complete my project with my students. However, according to the Federal Trade Commission website, this law only applies to children under the age of 13. NO student in my class is under the age of 13. So what is the problem? Is the problem that they don't want my low-socioeconomic students to have access to technology? Is the problem state-wide? I have found numerous websites/blogs/etc. which prove that wrong. . . Let me tell you what I found:

Laptop Integration in the 9th grade ELA Curriculum
A Webliography of Resources for Laptop Integration into the Georgia 9th grade English Language Arts Curriculum

Cool Cat Teacher Blog -- a teacher in Georgia who is technologically "with-it"

Weblogg-ed
Not Georgia-related, but an excellent, well-respected blog on the use of emerging technologies (such as blogs) in education.

Maybe I need to move out of the country. Here are a few innovative blogs from around the world:

New Zealand
A class blog for a 2nd/3rd grade class in New Zealand.

Canada
A class of 6-year-olds participate in the creation of a class blog.

And then there was Alabama . . .
Although obviously within this country, an excellent example of a collaborate class blog in a senior English class.

So what is the problem in my county? ? ?