“Cobb County school board members voted Wednesday to approve the first phase of a new laptop computer program, with a 4-2 vote that mirrored the controversy surrounding what could become one of the nation’s largest laptop initiatives,” Kristina Torres reports for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “‘There has been a tremendous amount of heartburn and angst and . . . miscommunication about this,’ said board member Laura Searcy, who voted for the proposal to provide Apple iBook laptops to all Cobb teachers — more than 7,100 next year alone. Phase I of the program also will equip four high schools as demonstration sites and upgrade middle school computer labs.”
Torres reports, “Members Lindsey Tippins and Betty Gray voted against the plan. Gray said she felt ‘duped,’ and Tippins warned that Cobb may be getting in over its head financially. ‘A time bomb wrapped up like a Christmas present is still a time bomb,’ he said. Approval is contingent on a final contractual agreement with Apple Computer that will require a separate vote. Barring a derailment in negotiations, teachers will get their iBooks this summer. Those computers will represent the start of a three-stage phase-in that eventually could distribute 63,000 Apple iBooks to all county teachers and all students in grades 6-12.”
Full article here.
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