Macbooks

School officials presented a new technology proposal Tuesday that would reduce costs to the Limestone County Schools district by selling some MacBooks and no longer letting students take other MacBooks home.

The proposal has some elements that have been proposed in the past, such as allowing one device per two students and keeping MacBooks at the schools. At the Limestone County Board of Education work session Tuesday, LCS Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Brad Lewis explained damage and repair costs were “significant” across the district.

Furthermore, he said, teachers had reported students downloading games, using social media and staying on their take-home computers late at night, leading to difficulty staying focused or engaged the next day. Among teachers who responded to a district survey, 77% wanted the devices to come back to the schools and remain on carts that could be used to charge and manage the devices.

“What we’re proposing is that the district purchase 120 carts and every school has carts based on enrollment,” Lewis said.

To defray the cost, 500 of the district’s oldest MacBooks would be sold. Each elementary school would receive 25 devices per cart, while each high school would receive 30, Lewis said.

“We’re going to have some devices left over that we can use for parts,” he said. “We can pull from our inventory as older MacBooks become damaged or are dying on us and need replacement.”

The proposal also included a cart with 30 devices for each access lab. Seniors could check out a device to use when filling out college or scholarship applications.

Better management,

better instruction

Lewis and Instructional Technology Facilitator Catherine Preston explained to the board that damage and availability issues would be greatly and positively affected if the new proposal were approved.

“At this point, the teacher has no control over how many (devices) show up in their classroom ready to go, fully charged, not broken,” Preston said. “… It’s frustrating when you get in there and this (student) doesn’t have one, this one’s not charged, and this one left it in their locker and this one, it could be in PE and it could be in their locker. It’s so many things we can’t control.”

However, if the district allowed for the sale of old MacBooks and the purchase of new carts for each school, the devices would be “in a fully managed environment,” Preston said.

There would also be fewer opportunities for damage and neglect. Lewis told board members there were 80 devices currently waiting for repairs, meaning at least 80 students are unable to use their device for classwork.

“Most of the damage that has incurred at this point is home use,” Preston said. “Kids taking the devices back and forth from school, back to their home and then back on campus. It’s not necessarily a specific grade level, just neglect over the years. They have gotten more comfortable with them, and so they’ve become more relaxed with the rules that have been set forth.”

Preston emphasized no new devices would be purchased under the plan. Carts would also allow a way to charge devices sufficiently and keep thousands of dollars worth of devices from being toted around in a plastic tub, she said.

“We really believe this is in the best interests of the students,” Lewis said. “… Keeping the MacBooks on the cart will improve management and improve instruction.”

The board will next meet 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 14, at East Limestone High School.