“190 [Apple iBooks] and 5 new servers [Apple Xserves] arrived at Centura [High School in Cairo, Nebraska] today. Students got involved unloading the truck and unpacking the boxes with excitement about the new 24/7 laptop learning initiative which will begin this fall,” Brian Gibson reports for NTV.

“Centura will distribute a new laptop to every high school student this fall. This program which is becoming more and more popular among schools in Nebraska and other states helps to provide all students with an equal opportunity for learning,” Gibson reports.

Full article here.

Steve White reports also for NTV, “Centura’s handing out nearly 200 laptops. That’s one for every high school student. Students realize they’ve been given quite a gift. But they bear responsibility… It’s a $300,000 investment, so the school district expects results.”

“The school purchased laptops from Apple. In the past, the school found many kids used Macs in class but Windows-based machines at home, so this should allow kids to do their homework in the same format as they use in school,” White reports.

Full article here.

In our rather exhaustive search to piece together various articles in order to discover the type of servers Centura received, we found this: “Gibson said the day after the school board approved the purchase, he called Apple and they offered the school a better deal and threw in extras, like free upgrades and free servers with the purchase,” NTV reported back on June 29th. Full article here.

So, we’re assuming Xserves for now – although it could be Power Macs or other type(s) of Macs, of course.

Many more photos of the new iBooks arriving at Centura: http://www.centura.k12.ne.us/laptops/laptops.html

[UPDATE: 10:58pm EDT: Changed "MacBooks" to "iBooks. Thanks, "Elmer FUD."]

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Maine inks deal with Apple for 36,000 iBook G4 notebooks for students and teachers – June 29, 2006
Apple beats Dell: lands deal to supply 12,675 iBooks to Henrico County Middle Schools – February 09, 2006
Apple Mac is #1 in European education market, pushes Dell down into second place – February 03, 2006