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Geneva schools ready to finish 1:1 student computer plan

Geneva schools will finish up a three-year plan to put a computer in each student's hands in the next fiscal year, according to a technology capital plan the school board adopted Monday night.

About 1,600 students in second, fifth, sixth and ninth grades will get devices in the fall, according to the district's technology director, Michael Wilkes.

It will also finish a two-year program to replace staff's laptop computers, and a plan to get all schools using the same kind of classroom projectors.

Attention will now turn to a three-year plan to upgrade the infrastructure that supports those devices, including computing capacity, the district's firewall, and its wireless capabilities.

In 2018-19, the plan could cost an estimated $1.07 million. But that could be lowered by an estimated $167,000 if some of the infrastructure equipment is bought using the Federal Communications Commission's Schools and Libraries E-Rate Program. In the past, the district has received discounts of 40 percent on purchases for internet access and telecommunications.

The Fabyan Foundation of Geneva has also donated $25,000 toward the purchase of the student devices. And the technology fee the district charges students should bring in $205,000, he said.

Children in kindergarten and first grade use iPads; the rest use laptop computers. The iPads are to be replaced every three years. Laptops for elementary- and middle-school students are to be replaced every three years, and those for high school students every four years.

Employees' laptop computers are to be replaced every four years from here on. The classroom projectors will be on a seven-year replacement cycle. Wilkes estimates that it could cost roughly $80,000 for the purchase and installation of 65 projectors at Harrison Street and Fabyan elementary schools.

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