District tech committee recommends K–5 Chromebooks stay at school; board to consider multimillion‑dollar purchase next week

District technology staff and the district technology committee presented its recommended device strategy after a year of stakeholder meetings, surveys and focus groups, and told the Education Committee they will bring purchase requests and bids to the board next week.

Patrick Snyder, an elementary curriculum coordinator who led parts of the review, described a multi‑stakeholder process that used the U.S. Office of Educational Technology’s National EdTech Plan and the district’s Portrait of a Graduate to define “ideal learning experiences” before recommending devices. The committee prioritized learning design, student engagement, access and equity, and digital literacy as evaluation categories.

The recommendation presented to the committee was grade‑differentiated: Chromebooks remain the favored device across grades. For kindergarten through second grade, staff recommended a 1‑to‑1 Chromebook allocation with devices kept at school by default and an opt‑in program if families want devices to take home. For grades 3–5 the recommendation was also 1‑to‑1 with devices generally staying at school (take‑home as needed); middle schools would pilot on‑site device models (Southeast’s sixth grade would pilot a stay‑at‑school approach this year) and current take‑home practice would continue for grades 7–12.

Staff said the committee’s surveys and focus groups showed many teachers, parents and students favor keeping devices on site for elementary grades to reduce logistics and equity concerns. Middle school focus groups used an activity to surface classroom technology frustrations and prioritize fixes; staff said the results informed logistics planning for a Southeast pilot.

Cost and logistics were discussed at length. District staff said the full student and staff device purchase, pending bids, is expected to be in the neighborhood of $10–12 million; the impact of maintaining classroom carts (if the district used cart models instead of student assignment) would add roughly $690,000–$750,000, according to staff comments. A district staff member noted that cart models typically require more devices overall because devices are not constantly assigned to students.

Board members raised equity and screen‑time concerns. One board member said secondary teachers had raised equity worries where some students bring higher‑powered personal laptops; staff replied that few students bring personal devices and that many district apps and assessments are supported only on district Chromebooks. Another board member asked about curriculum changes if K–2 did not have Chromebooks; staff said several literacy, math and assessment platforms (examples cited: FastBridge, Panorama, Lexia, Happy Numbers) and accessibility tools (Google Read & Write) are used in K–2 and would require adjustments if Chromebooks were removed.

District staff said they were preparing purchase items for the next board meeting and would present the full slide deck and bid information; staff indicated the purchases would likely appear as three separate action items (staff devices, student devices, and Mac purchases). The committee did not ask the board to vote on procurement at this meeting; the board will consider formal action when the bids and purchase items are presented next week.