RIH Expects to Distribute Student Laptops Next Year

In a presentation to parents Tuesday night, the Ramapo-Indian Hills school district detailed its planned “one-to-one” initiative, laying out a timetable that has laptops in the hands of students at the two regional high schools by next January.

A district technology committee began investigating the possible integration of student computers in 2010, and last December recommended the one-to-one initiative, which would equip all high school students with district owned laptops.

Though line-item expenses such as professional development and the purchase of the laptops themselves remain subject to board approval, the district .

In last year’s budget, the district set aside $407,000 to make infrastructure preparations for the initiative, including wireless improvements and a content filter system that will restrict access on student laptops even when they take them home on nights and weekends.

Business administrator Frank Ceurvels emphasized that these were one-time costs, and that the added technology appropriations in this year’s budget, which represented the first tax increase in three years, would remain consistent in future budgets.

He said that though the technology portion of the budget has increased from around $500,000 in prior years to $1.3 million this year, the appropriations would remain close to that figure through the implementation of the one-to-one initiative.

“We’re very confident we can maintain this for that amount of money,” he said.

Under a tentative agreement with Apple, he explained, the district would lease a round of 2,500 laptops every four years, paying 25 percent of the costs each year and preventing spikes in the budget when the lifespan of the machines expires.

He added that the student laptops could also reduce costs in textbooks and paper copies in future years, as the curriculum becomes more tech-centric.

The presentation gave a preview of what new technology-driven classrooms could look like, based on the experiences of districts that have already enacted the one-to-one initiative.

Gloria DeSimone, a Wyckoff resident and math teacher in the Pascack Valley Regional High School District, which nearly a decade ago became the first in the state to adopt the initiative, told the audience that the student computers have “flipped” the traditional classroom, putting more of the learning initiative in the hands of students and increasing engagement.

“Since the computer was put into my hands, my classroom has been transformed into a different learning environment,” DeSimone told parents, explaining that the much of the investigative work is done at home, and the traditional “homework” done in the classroom under the facilitation of teachers.

Teachers, interim superintendent Beverly Mackay said, would undergo professional development in their subject areas to explore ways to integrate the computers into their lesson plans, which according to the presentation would range from research tools, online course materials, graphics programs, and mathematics software.

The district laid out a timetable for the expected implementation of the program, which included summer workshops for teachers, a November parent/student orientation, and collection of user agreements and fees for insurance on the machines by December—all leading to distribution at the schools by mid-January 2014.

School officials said that the timeline is important, as the adoption of the common core and accompanying online assessments will make student access to computers essential. And, Ceurvels said, given the state’s 2 percent cap on school spending increases, the money may not be available in future budgets.

Concluding the meeting, Ramapo High School principal Louis Moore, who admitted to being a skeptic of the initiative when it was first proposed, emphasized continuity in the schools' educational programs even as technology alters the way teachers undetake instruction.

“This is about depth, this is about inquiry," he said, "this is about shifting responsibilities to the kids...We want to strengthen what we already have and deepen our commitment to the things that make us great.”

Questions and comments on the initiative can be sent to 1to1inititiative@rih.org.