District 15 preparing to distribute 4,400 laptops to students

Palatine Township Elementary District 15 is preparing to distribute 4,400 laptop computers to students for use in classrooms and at home.

Deputy Superintendent Matthew Barbini said officials hope to put all the Chromebooks in students' hands within the first five days of the new academic year, which starts Aug. 16. The new initiative for grades six through eight follows a two-year test program.

Carol Gajewski, District 15's manager of technology services, said officials learned through the program that students generally were respectful in their of handling of the laptops. She said the district also found the Chromebooks did not use an excessive amount of bandwidth.

On the academic end, Barbini said, the trial showed a need to teach students responsible Chromebook use in the classroom and at home. Parents are being informed a student may lose the privilege of using the Chromebook and could face disciplinary consequences if it is continuously damaged, brought to school sporadically or used for bullying, intimidation or harassment.

"Digital citizenship has been a primary emphasis in terms of our preparation efforts for our launch in the fall (semester)," Barbini said Monday. "And so we worked all year long to build a digital citizenship curriculum that our teachers will use. So they don't have to build or develop anything. It's all provided for them."

Technology department employees have been preparing the Chromebooks for student use. The devices will be distributed to the students at the schools they attend.

District 15 school board members in May approved spending roughly $980,000 for the 4,400 Lenovo Chromebooks, protective cases and warranties. Barbini said he's grateful the board authorized the hefty expenditure in a time of limited financial resources.

"They did a courageous and correct action in terms of putting these wonderful tools for learning in the hands of our students and staff," he said.

District 15 officials expect the Chromebooks - loaded with Google's suite of apps for educational use - to benefit students in areas such as collaboration with their peers, content creation and research. The devices are expected to better prepare students for success in a digital age and global economy.

A growing number of suburban public and private schools have what educators call a "one-to-one" computer initiative for students. Schools typically select tablets or lightweight laptops such as the Chromebook, which runs on internet-based programs instead of standard computer software.

Neighboring public school systems that have had computer initiatives include Wheeling Township Elementary District 21, Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 and Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211.