WCS Sixth Graders May Receive iPads
During last night’s Warsaw Community School Corporation monthly board work session, WCS Technology Officer Brad Hagg presented the board with a proposed 3-year technology plan that may allow all WCS sixth grade students to receive a take-home iPad to be utilized during their middle school experience.
According to Hagg, through the implementation of new technology program titled “E3 Tiger Tech,” students and teachers will both learn how to equip, engage and excel through the use of technology in the classroom. Should the plan be approved, all sixth grade students will receive an iPad Mini as part of the take-home one-to-one initiative the school corporation is striving for. In order to make best use of the technology given to students, teachers will receive informal and formal professional growth opportunities to shift learning in the classroom.
By focusing on introducing technology in the middle school, Hagg states students will be exposed to information literacy instruction, assessments, eBook instruction and access, GUARD source evaluation and instruction, research/project based learning projects and will learn to collaborate with librarians, teachers and tech support specialist.
Students will be asked to turn in their iPads during summer break and, as seventh grade students, will receive the same iPad at the beginning of the following school year. In addition, sixth grade students during the second year of the plan will also be receiving new iPads. By the third year, all sixth, seventh and eighth grade students will be equipped with an iPad Mini and at the end of a student’s eighth grade year they will be allowed to purchase their respective iPads for a mere $45 to $50 dollars.
Financing for the 3-year plan is available through text-book rental fees, the WCS capital projects fund and a $100,000 digital learning grant awarded from the Indiana Department of Education. Only 20 school corporations throughout the state were awarded the grant, which would cover the $25,000 text-book rental fee for the first year. Years two and three of the lease payment plan would place a $45 text-book rental fee on parents for the device in both sixth and seventh grade which will pay a total of $24,750 per grade level towards the lease with the school corporation paying a total of $26,690 toward the lease for each grade level.
Hagg notes that in year two of the plan, 12.6 percent of the capital project budget would be utilized and 15.3 percent of students will be equipped with the iPads in the school corporation. By year three of the plan, an additional $24,750 will be added for students entering the eighth grade with the device and the school will pay an additional $26,690. The devices will cost $279 per iPad with parents only paying $180 total to own the device at the end of their child’s middle school experience. By year three of the plan, 18.9 percent of the capital projects fund will be utilized with 22.5 percent of WCS students impacted.
Though some may worry the cost of the iPads may be too big of a financial burden for families and the school corporation, Hagg noted free and reduced lunch students will not be required to pay the text-book rental fee and that the funds, which are normally used to replace computers on a corporation-wide level, would simply have to be more strategically utilized. Paired with the lowering of overall text-book rental fees noted by WCS Assistant Superintendent David Hoffert, the financial burden for parents paying the rental fee is expected to be low.
The devices would be secured with school appropriate restrictions and will have tracking installed to help locate a stolen or lost iPad. In addition, Hagg noted parents may be able to purchase a form of insurance on the device to protect against paying a replacement fee should it be damaged. Hagg also noted that he has looked into utilizing a waterproof, air-tight case that would protect against damages. Should the device become damage, Hagg stated the company who creates the case would pay for repairs or replacement.
The Warsaw Community School Corporation Board of School Trustees will vote on approval of the plan during next Monday’s regular school board meeting.