With the new year here, the school district is looking to purchase a new 4-year lease for 1-to-1 technology devices, which will span from now until 2028.
It is expected that the new lease will begin on July 1, 2024, but as of now, the lease, which will be a part of the 2024-2025 school budget, will have to be discussed and approved by the School Board.
Until the financial and legal conditions are confirmed, this new lease is not yet set in stone, said Mike Lingenfelter, the Bellwood-Antis School District Technologic Coordinator.
“As a school, dealing with public money, there are several steps to spend the money properly. Large purchases, such as new student technology, require the final approval of the School Board. At this point we are evaluating options for the next round of technology and the options/plans will be presented to the board for approval,” said Mr. Lingenfelter.
At the end of the current term, which provides iPads to every student in the district, the district has the ability to purchase all devices included in the term for $1.00. After this $1 buyout, all devices are the property of the district. After that, the devices may be used for a longer period of time or be sold off to a reseller.
The lease that spanned from 2016-2020 was the very first lease for student and teacher 1-to-1 technology at Bellwood-Antis. Before that, the school utilized mobile laptop carts and computer labs for technology use, meaning that most of the time, work was confined to just paper and pencil. At the end of 2016, teachers discussed the direction of the technology, and whether iPads or Chromebooks should be used.
Once the decision was made, teachers went under extensive training on iPad use in the classroom.
For the new lease, there is a possibility that both students and teachers will be receiving new devices. Some of the school’s options will be Chromebooks, new iPads, or even laptops that support the Windows OS. However, Mr. Lingenfelter noted, these options can get expensive, especially new laptops, and depending on how much funds the school has, the school may just continue with the usual iPads.
Some teachers would like to receive devices other than iPads, like civics teacher Mr. Matthew McNaul.
“I would like the kids to get laptops because they are more likely to use these on a daily basis later in their (high school) career instead of an iPad,” he said.
“iPads have changed the game at B-A, but I think it would be nice to try something new,” said English teacher Mr. Kerry Naylor. “In college most students will be using laptops, so it would be nice to try something like that. The iPad initiative has gotten all of us teachers using technology more meaningfully in our classrooms, but we could probably use just about any device and get similar results.”
Perhaps as important as the device itself is proper storage for teachers and students to save and access their work.
The data that every student and teacher owns is contained within three major locations, Mr. Lingenfelter said: iCloud, Workspace (G Suite), and Azure Cloud are the external data sites that the district utilizes. The students’ accounts are all connected to these sites, and until the account is closed by the school, it will remain on the site indefinitely.
The external sites allow for the smooth transfer of data between old devices and new devices. Each and every iPad can be connected to one of the three data locations, and the student’s account can be downloaded onto the new device. Pictures, files, and online data that are saved on any of the data sites can be transferred with no major problems. So, when students receive their new devices, all of their important information is there for them.
The previous lease and the one in effect now are the length of the expected lifespan of the devices. If the term length goes beyond the expected lifespan, then the district would risk paying for devices that perform poorly, or worse, do not function at all.
Mr. Lingenfelter said he expected cost of the lease is unknown currently because there are many variables to consider, like what devices the district is leasing, how many devices, and the length of the term.
“In each iteration, we make decisions based on what happened in the prior lease and try to improve the return on investment for the students, staff, and district. For example, we provided keyboards on the last set of iPads for students. Things like anticipated enrollment, supply chain effects, and predicted usage all factor in on what each lease will entail,” said Mr. Lingenfelter.
Today, the classrooms at Bellwood are full of technology. This new lease is a big step forward for the district in increasing student abilities and learning.
