By Alex Johnson
Correspondent
With a new technology lease solidified over the course of 2016, the Burlington Area School District has now supplied every student in grades two through 12 with a Chromebook computer.
High school students are allowed to take their Chromebooks home for after-school work, while students in the elementary schools return their laptops at the end of each day.
Currently, there are about 3,300 Chromebooks in circulation across the school district, including laptops that are on standby for loaners and laptops borrowed to students who have a faulty piece of equipment.
The school district also has 360 iPad Minis and 60 PCs for business classes at the high school, in addition to 50 iMacs for art and multimedia classes at the high school.
The director of technology for the district, Scott Christensen, discussed the successes and improvements the district has made at this point in its technology lease.
“I can only call (the implementation) victories,” said Christensen, addressing the board on student use of technology.
“Time and time again, I continue to hear the fact that (students) have access to the technology all of the time,” he said.
Now that the one-to-one technology system is in place, students have their own laptop to work on, while also staying engaged and interactive in the classroom.
The school district has also moved toward a wireless infrastructure, placing a variety of wireless access points across the district, allowing for better, stronger connections.
Students have also been treating their computers well, Principal Eric Burling said, noting the system and transition has been “smooth.”
School Board President Jim Bousman asked about the response to and further prevention of technology issues, such as when officials had to temporarily shutdown the district’s email during the 2016-17 school year after a nude photo of a student was shared through system.
Christensen said response was immediate, and that he had spoken to Superintendent Peter Smet after the incident about possible options, one of which being an email monitoring system for the district.
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