SMART Schools Investment Plan – Adjustments Due to Changing Conditions

The COVID-19 Pandemic created a need to accelerate our 1-to-1 initiative and adjust our technology plans to address the changing learning environment. This is a short description of how the SMART Schools Investment Plan is being revised to meet our current needs.

Changes to the Educational Environment

• The District now has enough Chromebooks for every student in grades Pre-K to 12.
• Chromebooks have an average lifespan of 5-years. At the end of five years, Google no longer updates the Chrome Operating System creating possible security risks.
• Students in grades 6-12 take the Chromebooks to and from school every day.
• Students in grades Pre-K to 5 leave their Chromebooks in school, locked in a Chromebook cart, unless we pivot to remote instruction or the student is on an extended leave, such as an illness or quarantine. This has reduced the need for Chromebook carts as middle and high school students do not store their Chromebooks in a cart at night anymore.
• The National demand for Chromebooks throughout the Pandemic and inflation has caused the price of Chromebooks to increase.

Changes to the SMART Schools Investment Plan

• To standardize the repair and management of Chromebooks we have decided to utilize the Dell 3100 Clamshell Chromebooks rather than the HP CB11G7 Chromebook.
• The price of a Chromebook has increased by $54 per device.
• As students are taking Chromebooks to and from school, we are protecting the devices with a Gumdrop case that is rated for drops from 5 feet.
• The price of the Google Chrome Management License has increased by $8 per license
• The 27 Chromebook carts that were going to be ordered are no longer needed and are therefore being eliminated by the revision to the plan.
• We are eliminating the HP 3-year warranty. This warranty does not cover accidental damage and we have found that almost all manufacturing defects are discovered within a year of receiving the device. This has eliminated the need for a 3-year warranty.

See below a summary of the Smart Schools Investment Plan proposal for the purchase of Chromebooks to reach the level of 1:1 device saturation.  If a community member has questions or wishes to comment, there will be a Public Hearing date set by the Board of Education.