The Gillett School Board on Thursday adopted a two-year roll-out of a 1:1 technology plan that will put a Chromebook or iPad in the hands of every student by the 2016-17 school year.
Superintendent Todd Carlson said the new technology will provide a different approach to learning.
“It doesn’t take the place of education or the teacher or the classroom, it just is an additional tool that allows more ways of learning for students, and we’re really seeing good results,” he said.
Students will use the new technology to obtain up-to-date information from the Internet, marking a shift from book-based learning to computer-assisted education.
“We’re not purchasing as many textbooks now,” Carlson said.
The district will spend $50,000 to $35,000 for regular education classrooms and $15,000 for special education classrooms — to ensure each student has his or her own computing device.
According to the plan unanimously approved by the School Board, students in kindergarten to eighth grade will be the first to benefit. The youngest elementary school students will have iPads and fourth- to eighth-grade students will have Chromebooks to use in the 2015-16 school year.
Many of the elementary and secondary school students already have been equipped with devices. For the 2015-16 school year, the district will purchase additional devices to issue to students in grades three, four and seven.
High school students will have their own Chromebooks in the 2016-17 school year.
Students in sixth grade and older will be allowed to use their devices at home and at school, while students in the lower grades will keep their devices at school.
The technology costs about $350 per unit, which will be covered by the district’s operating budget.
“I think that’s a good investment in education,” Carlson said.
Parents won’t be charged any fees for the technology, although a portion of the book fees paid by families will eventually offset a $15 per year insurance policy for the devices.
“Once they start going home, they’re more likely to get damaged or lost,” Carlson said, explaining the need for insurance.
The devices are expected to last five years.
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