Board warily eyes replacing laptops with iPads
LOWER POTTSGROVE >> The administrative team at the Pottsgrove School District wants the school board to consider replacing the laptop computers provided to each high school student with iPads.
Judging by the reaction Tuesday, they have their work cut out for them.
Pottsgrove High School Principal William Ziegler, Director of Technology Tony Bickert and David Ramage, director of integration for learning and instruction, told the board there are several reasons they would like the switch considered.
The three primary reasons are lower cost, improved security and its adaptability for professional learning, they said.
“We see a shift,” said Ramage, noting the current iPads are more versatile than they were in 2013 when Pottsgrove first began exploring options for its DiLE program, which provides laptops to all high school students and iPads to students in elementary and middle schools.
“We don’t think of this as a step back,” Ramage told the board.
Ziegler said because Pottsgrove students in the lower grades already use iPads, there would be no delay while they learn how to use a new computer when they come to the high school.
He said many of the functions in the newer iPads help to improve teaching and learning.
DiLE stands for “Digital
Learning Environment,” and was initiated about five years ago at an initial cost of $250,000.
The proposed change, as those laptop computers get older, will be discussed in more detail at the upcoming curriculum, integration and technology committee meeting on Jan. 21, at 7:30 in the district office adjacent to the high school.
But the initial board reaction suggests it may be a long discussion.
Board member Jim Lapic said he broached the topic with his children and both said that when it comes to typing, they prefer “a real keyboard,” as opposed to the virtual one on the face of the iPad.
Both student members of the school board, senior Brenna Mayberry and Madison Palma agreed that they prefer working on the laptop.
“I wouldn’t want to fill out my college applications on an iPad,” said Mayberry.
Palma said she handwrites her notes in class, and then re-types them and organizes them on her laptop at home, something she would struggle to do effectively with an iPad.
Board Vice President Al Leach also expressed reservations.
“It has taken the teachers a long time to get up to speed on the new technology and I don’t want to go
“To me, an iPad is just a big phone. We don’t use iPads in the real world.”
— Al Leach, Pottsgrove School Board Vice President
“I have been fighting to make Pottsgrove an all-Windows environment for 15 years. It’s a fight I’ve been losing, but I intend to keep on fighting.”
— Robert Lindgren, Pottsgrove School Board Preisdent
backwards” by introducing another new technology, he said. He further noted that iPads are uncommon in the business world. “To me, an iPad is just a big phone,” Leach said. “We don’t use iPads in the real world.” Board member Charles Nippert agreed, saying in classes he teaches at Widener University, Microsoft products are the norm and failing to familiarize Pottsgrove students with laptop computer operations could hamper their success in college and the job market. School Board President
Robert Lindgren said “I have been fighting to make Pottsgrove an all-Windows environment for 15 years. It’s a fight I’ve been losing, but I intend to keep on fighting.”
Leach further pointed out that for many Pottsgrove students, the laptop provided by the school district “is the only computer in the
house” and changing over to iPads would remove a computer from many Pottsgrove homes.
The Jan. 21 committee meeting is open to the public and board member Tina McIntyre urged residents asking questions about the initiative to attend and contribute to the discussion.