New Chromebooks are issued to each school in a rotation. This year John Adams will be receiving new devices. After much discussion among staff and administration, and with help from the tech department, we have decided to switch to a cart model with carts shared between teachers rather than assigning Chromebooks to the students.. This decision was not made lightly. Three of the top reasons are explained here.
Cost - the school spent about $12,000 on repairs and replacement of Chromebooks and chargers during the last school year. While the handbook says those costs may be passed on to students and families, only about $2000 was paid in for repairs. While there will still be some cost with this model it should be significantly reduced. Students will be assigned a Chromebook in the classroom when they are needed and collected at the end of the work time or class period. Any student who causes damage to the device will be charged for repairs per the student handbook.
Available when needed but Unavailable when not - “I forgot it” or “I didn’t plug it in” are often responses teachers receive when asking students about their Chromebooks. By moving to a cart model, the devices are available and charged when needed. This model also combats the “I left my device in/at ….” reason that has become a very popular avoidance technique. When teachers are not using the Chromebooks during instruction the devices are kept on the cart and unavailable to distract students. Our goal is to keep the focus on learning and away from distractions.
Behavior concerns - during the last school year there were almost 200 documented behavior issues regarding inappropriate Chromebook use. Again, our goal is to reduce these issues and keep the focus on learning and not on gaming, Youtube or other off task behaviors.
FAQ
Are there still enough Chromebooks for everyone? Yes, we will be issued one Chromebook for each student. When all students need to use them for testing, school surveys or lessons each student will be able to access a device
What if my student has an extended absence for illness or other reason? Arrangements will be made on a case by case basis to ensure students who have extended absences for valid reasons may continue to complete work.
My student has a device at home, can they bring that to use? Thanks for offering, however, for security reasons students need to be able to log in to the network to access resources and that cannot be done on a personal device.
Will cellphones be required to do class work? Nope, cellphones must still be away for the day per district policy. Teachers will not use cellphones as a substitute for Chromebooks at school.
How can my student get their work done if they cannot bring a device home? Students are given sufficient to complete their work during the class period. Also, not all work requires a device. If your student is saying they don’t have time to do their work, likely their time is not being used wisely. If students are expected to complete work at home, this will be communicated to you by the teacher.
What if my student has work to do and needs a device? Students have a 10 minute study hall time after lunch. They can contact their counselor to set up a time to work in student services and typically we have had a drop in academic support afterschool option as well. It’s always a good idea to reach out to the individual teacher for ideas as well. Some are willing to stay after school for a bit to help students who need a little extra support.
