Kansas School To Lease 340 Laptops For One-To-One Program

by , 4:15 PM EST, January 20th, 2004

The Hutchinson News online edition has posted an article announcing a lease program of 340 iBooks for the Smoky Valley High School student body. Despite the current budget cuts and the cancelling of elective course offerings, the deal will provide the laptops in a one-to-one student distribution scheme in the hope of improving drop-out rates and school reputation. From the article:

Completing Internet-based assignments at home is difficult for 14-year-old Seth Larson.

His home computer is 7 years old and lacks Internet capabilities. So, to surf online, he relies on his mother's work computer or a laptop his sister brings home from college on weekends.

But soon, Internet-based homework will become a little easier for the Smoky Valley High School freshman. On Dec. 8, the Smoky Valley USD 400 Board of Education approved a $450,000 one-to-one laptop initiative for the high school, which will provide every student with an Internet-ready laptop computer in August.

[...]

Superintendent Glen Suppes said the district purchased 340 Apple laptops, or iBook G4s - enough for the projected 320 high school students next year and several teachers. The district had planned to replace 75 to 80 computers next year, which would have cost about $93,000. Now it won't have to, Suppes said.

You can read the full article at The Hutchinson New Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

While this is occurring more often within school districts across the nation, this nonetheless helps Apple position itself outside the core demographic of graphic arts and creative sectors by putting iBooks directly into the hands of potential young "Switchers" before they actually have to switch.

The Hutchinson News