Washington High School to adopt 1:1 initiative beginning next school year

At the same time Washington High School students will enter a new building next year, they will each receive a laptop computer to be used throughout their high school career.

On Wednesday, the Washington School Board approved a $695,000 expenditure to lease 575 MacBook computers for ninth through 12th grade students. According to the district?s ?1 to 1? plan, each student will be issued a computer when entering ninth grade. They will keep that computer through graduation, at which point it will be returned to the district. District technology coordinator Jeff Brock said he had only seen smaller districts doing a 1 to 1 plan.

?We will be the largest district in this part of the state to have this plan,? he said. ?We will be unique for the area.?

He said the 1 to 1 committee had discussed giving the students iPads instead of laptop computers, but investigation showed the laptops were more practical for student uses and less prone to breakage. He also said that there was a considerable debate on which machines to purchase, but when the committee voted, the unanimous decision was for the MacBooks.

At the beginning of the next term, parents will need to attend one of two meetings that will be scheduled on Aug. 21 and 22 to learn about the computers? use and to sign a waiver for their children to receive the computers. Brock said that if a parent doesn?t attend the meeting, the student will still be issued a computer, but won?t be allowed to take it home. Students will also check their computers back in during the summer.

Brock said that he had been negotiating with Apple Inc. for a discount on the computers and that the quote had just come in earlier in the day. The quote also includes other options, including software that will allow the district to upload software onto the computers without needing physical contact with the machines.

The district is also adopting a plan in the event that a computer is damaged. Brock said that students would be financially responsible for the computers. In the event of theft, he said, students will be required to report the theft to the police. Schools Superintendent Mike Jorgensen said that the district is getting an insurance policy for the machines with a $0 deductible.

Jorgensen also told the board that there wouldn?t be a program to allow the students to buy their computers when they graduate. He and Brock said that would open up legal issues, such as software licensing, that they thought the district shouldn?t get involved in.

The following year, Jorgensen said, the district is exploring the possibility of having school buses with wireless routers. One possible issue Brock said is that the high school might not have enough bandwidth for all the students. He said the bandwidth is being increased to 140 MB over the summer, but he isn?t sure that would be enough.

The computers will join the approximately 900 computers now in the school district. Bock said there would still be Windows-based computers in school for specific purposes such as business classes and computer-aided drafting.

In other business, the district:

? Held a public hearing for the 2012-13 budget. No comments were made. The budget was approved;

? Held a public hearing to redo the district boundaries. No comments were made. The board voted to change the school district into five representative districts and have two at-large members; and

? Discussed the possibility of creating a school for special needs students in Stewart.