FAQ

1. If I buy my own laptop, will the district provide all the software?

Yes. If students do not already have the required software for all of their classes, the district will provide it.

2. If I have multiple students in the school, is there a discount for the maintenance fees?

No. The maintenance fee is the same regardless of the number of students in the family.

3. How often will laptops be refreshed?

The value of all district-owned computers and possible new devices would be first evaluated before the 2016-17 school year. The final determination would be made by the Board of Education regarding renewal or extension of the lease prior to that time.

4. Can a student use an iPad with a keyboard in lieu of the laptop?

An iPad does not meet the minimum specifications for BYOD. Certain software packages for certain classes (e.g. Commercial Art, Marketing, Special Education) might not be available for the iPad.

5. Will the $75 be returned after the student returns a district-issued laptop?

No. This is a fee for maintenance for the year as opposed to a deposit.

6. What is the bottom line total price (including all accessories) for a district-issued laptop?

The annual maintenance fee for a district-issued laptop is $75. A stereo headset can be purchased from various stores for as little as $1 (high-end headsets are not necessary).

7. Can a student elect to not take part in this initiative?

Consistent with other districts that have gone in this direction, it should be understood that all students will need a laptop in order to participate in school. So, there is no “opt-out” option.

8. My child has a perfectly good Windows laptop. Why can’t they just use that for this initiative? How about Parallels running the Mac OS?

We understand that people may have perfectly good machines that run other operating systems such as Windows. We are moving toward a uniform set of hardware and software so that it becomes easier to support in the classroom, license and distribute software, administer tests, and manage all of the machines that are either owned by the school and brought in from home. We are also considering the software needs for AirPlay support as well as iBooks for authoring and distributing certain texts.

We are also looking for a minimum on the hardware side too. For example, having a faster wi-fi connection, having the same types of connections for input/output, and other hardware factors will make things run more smoothly in the classroom. Many of these things may just not work the same in a Windows or Parallels environment.