Published: June 10, 2009 09:59 am      

School board passes 1:1 laptop program

Beginning this fall, every sixth and seventh-grade student in Zionsville will have another powerful textbook. The Zionsville Community Schools Board of Trustees voted 3-2 to authorize the expansion of the 1:1 laptop computer initiative at both Zionsville Middle School and Zionsville West Middle School on Monday night, June 8.

The decision was met by substantial opposition — including that from board members Jane Burgess and Jim Longest who voted against the program’s expansion.

However, backed by overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents and sixth-graders who participated in the laptop pilot program this past school year, Superintendent Scott Robison and his staff assured board members Chip Cravens, Robert Wingerter and Mark Englert that this technology is necessary for preparing children in the 21st century.

Middle school teachers at the meeting unanimously agreed to expand the program, which allowed 75 ZMS students and 100 ZWMS students to work with the computers in the classroom, Robison said.

Robison said the laptops, which students will also take home for homework, have improved engagement in the classroom, and they help students connect and interact with the real world. He added that the information repository at their fingertips is unmatched by anything else in the classroom.

Englert agreed, saying, “I don’t want to be afraid of change — I want to confront it head-on.”

Burgess outlined concerns over the distractions they may cause, the economic ramifications and possible security issues. She told the board members she spoke with an FBI cyber agent who warned her about safety of the middle schoolers.

“It takes less than five minutes for a child predator to make contact with your child,” she said. “Filters are a tool, but they are far from fool-proof.”

ZCS has developed a plan to make the computers affordable. CFO Mike Shafer outlined pricing for the laptops, which are now defined as textbooks by the Indiana Department of Education, and he estimates parents will pay $48 to use the $505 Lenovo laptop for the 2009-10 school year.

ZCS will allow parents to pay 20 percent of the laptop price per year, about $100, and will use a new rainy day fund to “buy down” $52 of that price. Also on Monday, the board passed a resolution to establish such a rainy day fund.

ZCS has $2.7 million in its capital projects fund stemming from the sale of 68 acres of land left over after building Union Elementary. ZCS wishes to hold onto that money for another land purchase down the road, but the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance could decide the school system cannot keep those funds indefinitely. In order to not lose that money, the board established a rainy day fund wherein it can accrue interest. The board also has more freedom to use these funds, and will use some of it to buy down the price of the laptops for parents.

ZCS will also open a five-year capital lease to finance the initial purchase of these computers. By approving the laptop program, the board authorized the purchase of 815 Lenovo S12 Netbooks, and authorized a five-year capital lease with Huntington Bank.

None of the parents who spoke out against the program extension at Monday’s meeting had a child in the pilot program, but each one either had a child in elementary school or an incoming sixth-grader next year. Scott Shelton, the parent of a sixth-grader, believes the program may improve learning in some ways, but will also increase the students’ anxiety.

“It would be an added responsibility for our kids to take care of it,” Shelton said. “Many parents we’ve talked to are not excited about it.”

Tracy Phillips, an administrative assistant at ZWMS and parent of a child in the pilot program, whole-heartedly disagreed with Shelton and others. She said the laptop allows her daughter to be more organized because she doesn’t lose homework pages.

Other parents, like Brad Pressler and Sandy Haydock, expressed concerns over repairs and viruses, and how those issues would affect the cost and ability to learn. ZCS Technology Director Patti Bostwick said any software malfunctions would be repaired by the technology department, and it’s in that department’s budget. If a certain part of the laptop is broken, like the screen, the family is only responsible for replacing that specific part. She also noted that if a laptop is stolen, it will send a message back to the school when it’s turned on giving the location of the computer. It will even take a photo of the thief without them knowing it.

ZCS plans to begin the program this year with sixth and seventh-graders only, but in the following year it will be extended to fifth and eighth-graders. Then in the 2011-12 school year, all students in fifth through 12th grade will work with a laptop in the classroom.