More Dist. 220 students will get iPads next year

The technology program that debuted this year in Barrington Area Unit School District 220 will expand to give all middle school and most elementary school students iPads at the start of the 2015-16 school year.

The school board agreed to give third- to eighth-graders their own iPads. First- and second-graders will share an iPad with a classmate, and a cart with 10 iPads will be located in each prekindergarten and kindergarten classroom.

Superintendent Brian Harris said the most important aspect to the new technology program is how the devices enhance instruction and learning. He said he has seen teachers do great things with iPads the first year.

"Our teachers are going to continue to get better and better instructionally," Harris said. "Now instruction is wide open to be able to do some unique things."

Harris said to aid teachers in better using the new technology, the district will participate in Apple's new professional development program.

"Apple is coming to us, and they are going to be immersed in our classrooms," Harris said. "We are going to learn things we didn't know we didn't know."

Another change will be in how malfunctioning or broken computers will be fixed. This year the devices were insured through Apple, but Matt Fuller, the district's chief technology officer, said the district staff will be able to fix everything in house next year. Fuller, who was hired last year to oversee the digital age learning program, said dropping Apple's insurance will save the district around $600,000 on its new lease agreements.

Board member Chris Geier told Fuller that as long as his staff can handle repairs without hiring more staff, he supports the idea.

The cost of the program, which was $980,227 - around 2 percent of the district's annual operating budget - in the first year, will rise because more iPads will be leased. Still, Cindy Jaskowiak, the district's assistant superintendent for technology, said it is still within projections for next year's budget.

Fuller said he is glad the board gave the go-ahead for the expanded program, because computers are such a part of modern life.

"You do your business on a computer in 2015. That's what we're doing in education - it's no different," Fuller said. "We're trying to do the work the same way the kids are going to do their work when they leave the school system."

The final price of the program will be known after the district negotiates leases with Apple and other vendors in the coming weeks.