Orange County Public Schools will be handing out 100,000 laptops to students for the next school year. The ultimate goal is to get one of these devices into the hands of every student.
The laptops that can convert into tablets are used to do homework, take tests and give presentations.
The district started by lending out 8,000 laptops in 2013. By August they’ll be in every high school, seven elementary schools, six middle schools and two alternative education centers. Eventually every one of the more than 200,000 students will have one.
Mariel Milano is Orange County Public School’s director of digital curriculum. Damaged or lost devices will not interrupt learning, she said, because there will be a number of them on standby for students needing a replacement.
“Because all of their information is in the cloud, Google Drive, they don’t even have to worry about transferring their files from one device to another, they just pick right up where the left off,” said Milano.
Students are responsible for their device. Milano said students who damage them will be fined on a sliding scale.
The laptop devices are paid for through a combination of a half-cent sales tax, state funds and general funding.
Parents can attend an information session about digital learning on Saturday May 5th from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. at University High School.