“Parents have voiced frustration over the terms of the program, which excludes Windows systems even if the students already own one,” MacNN reports. “Superintendent James Hayes suggests the school will only have ‘one platform, and that’s going to be the Mac,’ according to a Salem News report.”
Full article here.
Cate Lecuyer reports for The Salem News, “‘You’re kidding me,’ parent Jenn Parisella said when she found out she’d have to buy her sophomore daughter, Sky, a new computer. ‘She has a laptop. Why would I buy her another laptop?’ Sky has a Dell.”
MacDailyNews Take: Because you bought your daughter a piece of junk, Jenn.
Lecuyer continues, “Parents can pay for the computers upfront or lease them from the district, with the option to buy after three years. The payments should work out to about $20 to $25 per month, Hayes said. The cost also includes free tech support. ‘We realize for some families that will be a stretch,’ Superintendent James Hayes said. In those cases, the district will provide financial assistance.”
MacDailyNews Take: So, what’s the problem? That a school made the correct technology choice and is helping those who don’t understand to make the correct choice, too?
Lecuyer continues, “Students who don’t participate will be able to borrow a school-provided laptop during the day, but they won’t be able to take it home, Hayes said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like everybody’s covered. We endorse this wholeheartedly. If they were forcing inferior Windows laptops on the kids, we’d be opposed to the forced handicapping of defenseless children.
Lecuyer continues, “Beverly will be the first school district in eastern Massachusetts to launch the laptop program. While Gateway Regional Middle School in the western Massachusetts town of Huntington also charges parents, other schools in the state provide laptops for free.”
“Berkshire County schools in North Adams and Pittsfield have been using laptops since 2003, and the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School in Dorchester has since 2005. Those programs are funded through a combination of state earmarks, private and corporate sponsors, and the local school districts, said Matt Mervis, an educational technology consultant who helped get the programs going,” Lecuyer reports. “‘There’s a lot of movement in that direction,’ he said. ‘There’s a strong consensus that we’ll see more and more of this.’ Unfortunately, Massachusetts hasn’t continued its financial commitment to fund one-on-one laptops, he said.”
MacDailyNews Note: Find out more about Apple’s Mac education programs here.
Lecuyer continues, “Maine, on the other hand, introduced the program in 2002, and it’s currently in all middle schools and more than half of the high schools in the state, said Jeff Mao, learning technology and policy director for the Maine Department of Education. The computers — all 70,000 of them this year — are purchased by the state, which is then reimbursed by the schools. The cost comes out of the budget. The state considers the laptops essential to learning, much like textbooks, he said. ‘Families pay in the fact that they’re taxpaying citizens,’ Mao said. But both he and Mervis said asking families to pay is not uncommon, and many such programs exist throughout the country.”
“Briscoe Middle School PTO co-president Mercene Perry, who has a sophomore son, said she supports the idea,” Lecuyer reports. “Most students will eventually buy a computer when they go to college anyway, so having the option to own the laptop is great, she said. The district considered PCs but decided to go with MacBooks because Apple offers a better package with educational and technical support, Hayes said. Plus, the software the district would have to purchase for a PC adds up.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Congrats to Beverly High School students and thank God every day that you don’t go to school in Toronto!
While supplying kids with MacBooks is great, the implementation of this program might be flawed.
For example, what if a kid already has a Mac laptop? Would the parents still have to purchase or lease a MacBook from the school? Or could the kid just use the laptop they already have?
And for those who have a Windows (or even Linux) laptop, why not let them use what they already have? Just have them agree that the school will not supply any tech support for it, and agree that any tech issues will not be an excuse for failure to complete an assignment, finish homework, etc.?
If the school wants to mandate that every student have the same computer, then the school should pay for it. Just as they already do for textbooks, for example. If the budget doesn’t allow for it, push for a tax increase (assuming the district is like most others in that it’s supported by property taxes). If the local residents agree with the idea, the tax increase will be approved. If not, it won’t be.
Isn’t government (including school districts) supposed to be accountable to it’s citizenry?
FYI In real life PC laptop support in schools is a one step process: reimage the machine. All on the machine that wasn’t backed up is lost. Independent (private) schools in my area need to keep spares on hand; generally 10% of the total along with extra batteries.
As a long time (MacPlus era) Mac user, taxpayer and parent, I have to say that requiring and forcing parents to buy a computer (Mac or not) is is just wrong.
You want money for computers or any educational resources?
I have a radical suggestion.
Get rid of all school sports programs… and I don’t know that I would stop at high schools.
By the time you add up all the educationally unnecessary, attendant expenses such as budgets for building and maintaining gymnasiums, football/baseball/soccer fields, sports equipment, bleachers, coaches salaries, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum, and the insurance for everything sports related… there ought to be plenty of funds for education resources then.
Armchair quarterback dads (and moms) want sports?
Pay for those.
And beyond mere money concerns… do you know how many kids get injured, maimed for life and killed every year in school sporting events? Or just traveling to them? How can any rational adult, especially a parent or a teacher, continue to justify any support for school sports?
And don’t give me any nonsense about building character or learning the value of teamwork. When it comes to kids welfare and health there are saner, less dangerous ways of accomplishing those.
Life is inherently dangerous enough as it is. It only stops being dangerous when we’re dead. We don’t need to be making it even riskier for those who have barely even lived yet.
so much for property taxes…
My how things have changed.
I agree choice is best, but this sort of thing has been going on in the other direction for decades. Districts sign exclusive contracts to get favorable pricing.
Back when the Gates Foundation was begun, and Melinda had no input, microsoft would find school districts which used Macs and the Foundation would donate pcs loaded with windows for free, provided the schools used nothing else.
Also in the bad old days, some parents would hound schools to eliminate Macs because “in the real world they would be using pcs.” I actually knew such an asshole.
I don’t really see the problem here, if a student wants to use his or her windows computer at home or in school there probably won’t be a problem. It just won’t be supported (I for one would NOT like to support laptops which kids can take home and fill with malware). The kids who don’t want to buy a new laptop can BORROW one during the day for school work, what’s the problem.
Agreeing with MDN makes me file like a Taliban though :/
I love my Mac and would never go back. But it is just wrong for a school board to Make parents Buy a macbook (or any computer). Forcing kids to buy (or lease) any thing shouldn’t be done esp. in this economy. (25 a month can make a big difference – and what about families with multiple kids in HS?)
And then there is the social implementations – kids get made fun for millions of reasons – should we add not buying a laptop to the wrong shoes, clothes, haircut, or free lunch.
Beside, I know families who don’t want their kids to have laptops since they want to monitor the usage.
Maybe this is a wealthy school distract, but I still think it is wrong and a bad idea.
@ leodavinci – You commie bastage. If God didn’t want Friday night football, he’d only have put six days in a week. How dare you expect education to happen in schools? Don’t you know being berated by adults builds character?
Good point.
MDN: It’s takes like this that make me consider not viewing this site anymore. Talk about hypocrisy. You’d be having a cow if the school district was forcing students to buy anything but Apple computers.
I’m fine with your being partisan. But this kind of blind patriotic fervor is always unattractive, and often downright disgusting.
They can still run Windows on their Mac laptops if they wish.
No big deal.
It wasn’t that long ago Mac families were forced to buy Windows computers because school, especially colleges, would not support the Mac.
Payback’s a bitch!
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Couldn’t have said it any better myself, although I like visiting the site if only to laugh at how ridiculous some of the takes and articles are. It’s my dose of humor for the day
the dell should be ok just drop the kids grade a few places
Only fair. I don’t think the US should give away twelve years of free education anyway. Privatize it. Let corporations take over and figure out a way to make a profit, you know, anti-socialism and all that. More vending machines in schools. Remove the child labor laws, put ’em to work! I know we have problems, we’ve got them right here in Central City. We have them in the North, South, East and West. And personally, I don’t care.
” this particular model is also an affront to the basic tenants of a free public-education”
@KoolAid
Which tenants do you think will be upset? And how exactly does the landlord figure in this scenario?
I suspect a conspiracy!
@ leodavinci–
Seriously? You, my friend, are a moron.
No, school sports should not be cancelled. Neither should music.
And yes, sports do teach kids about team work, and character. They also teach kids a little something about life–It isn’t fair. Some people are just better at somet things than others.
What’s wrong with that? Do you think the kids can’t handle that?
Well, I sucked at sports, and I turned out okay.
Kids need exercise. Too often, a sedintary lifestyle is promoted to our youth.
You are the part of the population that makes me scratch my head and wonder what the hell is wrong with people.
well if that is the only thing the school requires the student to buy for 4 years then maybe not so bad… 800/4=200/year. That is roughly what is required for high school kids in our district currently. (not computer related) But if that is additional on top of fees already in place then that school just like every family should be making the tough choices. Public school is supposed to be paid for through our taxes…
I’m a Mac fan big time- That’s all I own. I support Windows PCs for a living (thank God they suck) and in an educational environment- PC/Windows based computers are a nightmare. However- Massachusetts, from a tax perspective, is one of the worse run states- it been that way for years. I lived in and paid Massachusetts taxes for years- been there, done that. Does the term Taxachusetts ring a bell?
The problem here is not the technology direction- which for once, a school district actually made the right choice- it’s making the parents buy what they already paid for in terms of tax dollars. The Macs should be given to the students- period.
Shortsighted when everyone will be required to have an iPad in two years.
though I consider having a Mac in the hands of such bright, impressionable students is a good thing, I think this program would be quite a tough sell in a good economy, and even more so in the current one.
Since when do schools have the right to force parents who have the money to buy and/or already have a computer to buy? One, this is discrimination which is illegal, two, no one should be forced to buy/lease something they don’t want. Doesn’t matter what OS it is. This is just wrong and illegal and a class action suit will easily win this case. Schools are supposed to educate our children, not make parents pay out of pocket.
As a father, Mac lover, tax payer and president of the school PTSA I can contribute a little.
Here in Florida schools are in trouble. There is a great deal of talk in the Florida legislature about how important school is but in the end it is just talk. Budgets are being cut even further as millions are raised in lottery revenues (money that we were told would be earmarked for education) and proposals for penny taxes to raise school funds are bandied about.
My kids go to a school that is about 85% Mac. The IT guy and I are friendly and talk all the time. He is a PC user at home but loves the minimal maintenance he has to perform on Macs. Unfortunately our school computers (Mac and PC) are approaching 4 years old. That isn’t bad for a home computer but in a school where hundreds of students are banging away on them the wear and tear is pretty severe. Bezels break, keyboards have missing keys, mice break or the cables wear, etc. We have talked about the iPad as a replacement and there is a lot of excitement about the possibilities… but.
In our school, in a good neighborhood with an A+ rating, we are weighed down by such nonsense as the “No Child Left Behind” system which has penalized the school for not making what is called AYP (Advanced Yearly Performance). The school failed this in ONE number and yet has had funding pulled and ridiculous extra restrictions placed on teachers making their job even harder. Too add insult to injury 30 employees were released at the end of the year. They will not be replaced.
Too compete in the world as it is now our kids need to be prepared and have experience with technology. I don’t think however “adding it to the taxes” is going to solve anything.
We need more forward thinking politicians and school administrators.
As much as I love the idea of all kids getting Mac laptops, you really have to have in place some means of using existing computers if they exist in the home. There are very few technologies that the schools use that are not cross-platform or platform agnostic.
The only issue in the end is how does it impact the school if they are expected to provide support for an existing computer. Which is precisely what will happen. Child brings in home laptop (which in all likelihood is shared in the home). Child experiences problem, IT response is to, as mentioned earlier, wipe the drive and re-image it. Now all files from the computer are gone including those belonging to parents. All hell breaks loose.
If the IT person can’t fix the problem that child is now going to fall behind while their laptop is taken for repair to some place like, god forbid, Best Buy.
As much as I love Macs, this program gives me the creeps. Schools have no business forcing families to buy new computers for their kids, even if the computers are Macs. I understand that there are ways to circumvent the requirement. It just seems extremely misguided to require families to make a major purchase in the first place. How people spend their money is their own business. If they make poor choices, they (and their kids) will survive. Nobody has the right to play Big Brother—not schools, not the government, not anybody.
Man oh man! I have 5 apple devices and 4 MS. And the latter will be replaced by Apple… BUT wth is does a student NEED a mac for that a decent MS laptop cannot accomplish. If my home network can be hybrid surely a school network can. College level maybe… Highschool?? The loaners are a great idea.
Great idea! Free computers for all would be like socialism, wouldn’t it? Like healthcare, why should I pay for someone else? Let everyone pay for everything, put the taxrate to zero and society would be great! If i hit someone with my car and they can’t pay for healthcare, f**ck em. Great family values!