Farmington School Board approves iPad lease
Teachers to receive iPads before summer vacation
Farmington School District teachers will spend the summer learning to use iPads before every student is provided one next year.
School Board members unanimously approved spending $303,684 for a three-year lease of 630 iPads for teachers, the first phase of four in a district initiative to give every student an iPad by the third trimester of 2013.
“The possibilities are endless, what students can do with it,” Farmington School Board Member Melissa Sauser told Sun Thisweek.
Interactive textbooks, video, and applications designed to conquer learning disabilities are just some of the ways the iPad can help the district customize education to meet every student where they are at and encourage them forward, Sauser said.
Superintendent Jay Haugen has promoted iPads as helping the district develop a customized learning plan.
To help teachers learn how to use iPads for instruction, a four-day workshop is planned for early August. Teachers also will have constant access to an online support portal.
School Board Chair Tera Lee said student test scores and achievement has risen in other districts where students are provided iPads or iPods.
Approved funding will allow the district to purchase eight carts that are like mass-charging stations for iPads that remain in the building overnight, School Board Member Tim Burke said.
He added students will be expected to bring their iPads home daily and return with them fully charged the next day.
The district is planning that all classrooms will have access to an iPad when school starts next fall.
If all goes as planned, every student will have an iPad by the third trimester of 2013.
Laura Adelmann is at laura.adelmann@ecm-inc.com or facebook.com/sunthisweek.
