Posted on 02/12/2005 8:22:21 AM PST by groanup
Cobb County wants to spend nearly $70 million for 63,000 students and teachers to get state-of-the-art Apple laptop computers, complete with Microsoft Word and iTunes.
After months of negotiations, Superintendent Joseph Redden announced the cost and scope of a potential deal with Apple Computer. If the school board approves the first phase of the four-year, $69.9 million proposal, the first iBook G4 laptops would be distributed this spring.
By fall, four high schools would be outfitted as demonstration sites. Within a year, high schoolers could be working with a computer that, at 5 pounds, weighs less than most textbooks. Within three years, each of Cobb's teachers and middle and high school students could have a laptop.
The iBooks would come with Apple's latest operating system, plus Microsoft Office and wireless capability. Software would include Apple's iLife, which could be used to make digital movies, photos and music for school projects through programs like iTunes and GarageBand. The iBooks would be compatible with the school system's existing PCs.
"The kinds of things the students will be using out in the work force today, they'll be using in our schools," said Deputy Superintendent Donald Beers. Part of the cost goes to build a wireless network for schools countywide.
If fully implemented, it would be one of the largest school laptop programs in the country.
Apple would provide seven employees dedicated solely to training and operations, and operate a repair facility in Cobb. The laptops would have a four-year warranty, and the deal includes extra batteries.
Parents would be responsible for insurance, expected to be $50 a year. Redden said the school system's education foundation would work on fund-raising to help low-income families pay for the insurance.
The Cobb school district, which spent months negotiating with companies including IBM and Dell, claims the best price per laptop of any school system in the country: $271.26. Michigan paid $275 per machine in its recent laptop contract with Hewlett- Packard.
Add in the extras Cobb negotiated for — including support, training and maintenance — and the total cost is about $350 per person. For comparison, the cheapest retail price of the same computer loaded with the same features was $1,248 on apple.com.
John Seral, who has children in Cobb County middle and high schools, said he was "personally convinced this thing will be successful." He learned the details while working on an advisory panel for the school system.
Seral said he believed students would gain skills that have become invaluable in business. "Voice mail is virtually dead in our company," he said. "You have to have a laptop to function."
The Cobb deal would boost Apple's efforts to capture the k-12 education market. Vice President Barry Wright would not say what Apple's market share is, but the company has landed other major initiatives, including the nation's first in Maine and one in Henrico County, Va.
Mark Weston, who worked for Apple three years ago, when it provided laptops to 37,000 students and teachers in Maine, said the Cobb County deal would have people talking.
However, "the technology is just one piece of the equation for enhancing learning and teaching," he said. "The ultimate test will be how everyone uses these incredible tools."
Cobb County will pay for the program's start-up through a 1 percent sales tax voters approved in 2003 and which will expire in three years.
Most school board members seem comfortable with providing teachers with the laptops, but need assurance about the students.
Questions from the public include concerns about online security and at-home use. School officials have set up a Web site and e-mail to address questions and will conduct four information sessions before the board's March 9 vote.
The school system still needs a provider for wireless connectivity, as well as an Internet partner in the community, Redden said.
Proponents of "one computer to one student" point to reports of increased school attendance and fewer discipline problems. They say laptop programs bridge the "digital divide," putting cutting-edge technology in the hands of young people who otherwise could not afford it.
Some researchers, however, say more time is needed to understand the long-term impact of such programs. Critics say the money could be better spent on smaller classes and teacher development.
For those who cannot hope to get hands on this technology, I suggest they learn what schools are supposed to teach and make some money and buy one. Computers are just an advanced step over calculators, which have been in school for some time. Bright students learn how to use them and may make progress that is better than normal. Slow kids play games and learn how to rely on the technology for math and spelling, Etc. Teachers can use these things in good ways and bad. Many teachers are worfully ignorant of technology and will not integrate these things into classwork.
That said, people will benefit from the use of word processors, internet assignments (no more lost assignments), spread sheets? presentation software? Database formation and queries? the more people know the better off they are. But I doubt most high school kids are ready for these advances, and much class time will be spent teaching computer techniques.
Since a non-biased evaluation will not be possible, I predict that the program will be called a "big success". But we will never really know if the money could be spent in better ways of whether the kids would be just a well off if the program were never implemented.
I'm with you on that.
I'd prefer they didn't get their grubbies on a calculator until they had mastered rudimentary mathematics (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentages, fractions, and decimal fractions, to start).
If you can work the problem with a pencil, you are not a slave to the technology--you might get tired, but the battery never dies.
I'd buy an Apple laptop for $271.26 and they wouldn't even have to provide support.
On a more serious note, $50.00 per year for insurance means that the insurance premium on the $271.26 computer is going to be $200.00. They must expect close to a 100% loss rate over the 4 year life of the computer.
LOL it does take about 8 years to teach 'em how to cut & paste (ctrl+C, ctrl+V)and if they have to train 'em on a Mac it will take another 8 years.
While the tablet PC is a very valuable addition to teaching in a college setting, I can't imagine the chaos if a public school system just gives laptops to students at the high school level or lower. I would bet that many of the laptops will simply disappear, be damaged or stolen in the first few weeks and the rest will be used primarily to look at Internet porn and download music files instead of being seriously used in classes.
Are you kidding? My kids would have lost the things within a week.
Apple- top prices for less hardware and expensive software to boot.
What a great use of the taxpayers money! /sarcasm
This is, after all, Atlanta. There has to be a few million to grease some palms as well as to waste on hardware to collect dust. Then there is the rent to pay on the buildings where all the unused equipment will sit. They'll have to hire a few people to push paper around--they will need an expense account. Of course, air travel to and from Silicon Valley for the "county commissioners."
My sneaking suspicion is Apple is foisting off a whole lotta inventory, 12" laptops that were current one or two years ago. Apple persisted in making 12 inchers long past when PC makers dropped them. That's how Apple can sell them for $350, which I don't believe anyway, add another $200 for the real world price
Apple will make it back in software. In general, software for a Mac is quite a bit more expensive than for a PC.
ping
How big are these laptops? 12" 14" 15" ?? Inquiring minds want to know. The repair and support contract must be a hum dinger. Wait 'till you see how these machines will be abused.
Apple also gets a generation of kids from Cobb County who are Mac users.
In 5-7 years, it's an antique. I remember a mid-sized company I worked for in the late 1980's... we actually SHARED a Mac!
If you're spending that much time on computers, somethings being disgarded.
You are technically correct. But every tech I know calls it cut & paste.
No, it isn't. Cobb took a number of steps in the 1960s to make sure that Atlanta didn't get across the river. (Setting up sham municipalities along the river, refusing to join Marta, etc. )
Of course, air travel to and from Silicon Valley for the "county commissioners."
The schools are not under the County Commission.
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