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Alamo Heights ISD trustees approve bond-funded purchase of 1,200 Chromebooks and classroom carts
Summary
The Alamo Heights ISD board on May 28 approved technology purchases financed by the district’s 2023 bond, including 1,200 Chromebooks (quoted at $509,388) and 50 classroom carts ($114,000). The purchases were accelerated because supplier timing consolidated multiple deliveries and pushed the total above the $100,000 approval threshold.
The Alamo Heights ISD board of trustees on May 28 approved a set of bond-funded technology purchases after staff said supplier timing compressed three planned deliveries into a single order.
Board members met in a special-called session to consider purchases financed by the district’s 2023 bond. The Chair moved the meeting to agenda item 3 and asked for a motion to approve the purchases; after a motion and a vocal vote, the Chair declared the motion carried.
Staff described three bundled purchases that staff said had been budgeted as part of the 2023 bond device refresh. "509,388 for, that's 1,200 Chromebooks," the Staff member said, identifying the Chromebook line-item and explaining the district planned the devices for grades 3–5 and to hold roughly 100 additional units as spares. The staff added that current vendor lead times — about two months — motivated ordering now rather than waiting for the next regular board meeting.
The Staff member said the district would also purchase 50 carts — 25 for Cambridge and 25 for Woodbridge — and gave a combined quote of $114,000 for the carts. Staff additionally described a whiteboard purchase for classroom use; the transcript records the board discussing roughly 88 large boards, but the total dollar figure for the whiteboards was not clearly stated in the record.
On logistics, staff said prices for the Chromebooks were locked through June 18 and described contracting provisioning services to unbox and enroll devices to reduce internal labor. The staff said the devices would be provisioned into the district’s filtering and management platform and that some iPads being retired would be reused where possible to reduce replacement needs.
Committee members raised the related policy question of issuing Chromebooks for take-home use at older grade levels. A Committee member asked whether the district had discussed checking out devices to junior high and high school students; staff said the topic had been discussed at a technology-committee level in past years but was not yet before the cabinet and agreed to place it on the cabinet meeting agenda.
The Chair asked for a motion "to approve the purchase of technology financed by the 2023 bond." The Staff member moved; the record shows the Staff member also recorded a second. After the Chair called the vote and members vocalized "aye," the Chair said, "The motion carries." The board immediately adjourned.
The purchases are funded from the 2023 bond and, according to staff statements on the record, were budgeted in that bond’s device-refresh allocation. The transcript does not record a roll-call tally or varying votes by name.
