“Beginning this coming school year El Dorado High School’s freshmen and sophomores will be included in the school’s computer learning initiative. At its regular monthly meeting Monday night the USD 490 school board gave its unanimous approval to extension of the school’s ‘One-to-One’ laptop computer program to the ninth and 10th graders,” Steve Smith reports for The El Dorado Times (Kansas).
“This past year the program, which provides an Apple laptop computer to each student for use both in the classroom and at home, was launched with the EHS junior and senior classes,” Smith reports. “At Monday night’s meeting school board members gave their approval to a four-year lease-purchase agreement with Apple Computers through which the district will be acquiring the laptops for the freshmen and sophomores. The same kind of agreement was used to acquire the laptops EHS juniors and seniors began using during the 2004-05 school year.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: One-way tickets from Henrico to El Dorado are rumored to have already sold out to those with above average IQ.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Henrico blasted for choosing Dell laptops with Windows XP over Apple iBooks with Mac OS X Tiger – May 09, 2005
Henrico school officials on Apple to Dell switch: The logo will change, but the tool is the same – April 30, 2005
Henrico school board dumps Apple Macs, picks Dells with Windows – April 29, 2005
Henrico County Apple iBook plan in jeopardy? – April 02, 2005
Survey shows support for Henrico iBook program with ‘lukewarm support’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – March 07, 2005
Henrico poll finds students are using iBooks successfully – February 11, 2005
Henrico iBooks raise concerns among some parents – May 28, 2004
Henrico high school laptop program to continue, but will it still feature Apple Macs? – February 24, 2005
More schools experience Windows virus, worm problems while Macs just keep working – August 22, 2003
A tale of two school systems: Windows schools crippled while Mac schools unaffected – August 21, 2003
Finally, a school board with some sense and no drama.
You forgot to mention all students will also receive a bible for their science class.
This is good to hear, as a IT person who wants laptops in the hands of children, and as an Apple person. Sounds like they like what has been going on in the schools with these laptops.
I’m wondering, what are some school districts that went with Dell, and are they doing alright with the viruses and spyware. So far, only a few school districts didn’t like working with Apple computer, due to the G3 iBook problems with the logic boards. I’m going to have to look into this, and see if any school districts have kept going with Dell.
Lions, and Tigers and iBooks. Oh my…
Shh! Don’t let the Kansas school board know that OS X’s core is called “Darwin”!
What’s science have to do with the Bible?
All joking about the Kansas State School Board aside, this is positive news for the USD 400 students. Sounds like the local school board in El Dorado is more progressive than their counterparts on the state level.
(BTW, most local school districts in Kansas are planning on ignoring the state school board’s science recommendations. In Kansas, it’s the judicial branch that matters to the schools [dating back to Brown v. Board of Education, and now with the school funding fight with the state Supreme Court], not the legislature or the statewide school board.)
The Duke,
Thats a good question. You should ask the Kansas School Board since they are trying to eliminate the teaching of Evolution in the schools.
Lord Robin,
Excellent. I wish I had thought of that one!
I have to say that it’s quite interesting that science takes a step backwards as an operating system named Darwin establishes a new beachhead! All in good fun I’m sure.
I suspect they were thrown off by that fruit of the fall – the Apple. Fits right in with their creationist view of the world.
The whole argument in Kansas is they (lib/lefties) dont want teachers to even MENTION the biblical theory anywhere on school grounds. Silly, really when you consider the teacher should be allowed to teach that viewpoint when relating the theory of evolution as long as they dont finish the lecture with “Can I get an AMEN!!!”.
Don’t tell them that the apple is a major symbol in biblical lore or they’ll be protesting that also.
Way to go el dorado. I wish my kid’s (kansas)school district was as enlightened.