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Board approves Chromebook lease and teacher laptop purchase; reviews Future Ready tech plan
Summary
Trustees awarded teacher-laptop procurement, approved a three‑year Chromebook lease and reviewed the district's 'Future Ready' plan: recommendation to retain current 4‑year replacement cycles, IT staffing of ~5.9 FTEs, and ongoing migration choices (cloud vs on‑prem).
The Pelham board approved two technology procurements and spent an extended portion of the meeting on the district's multi-year technology plan.
The board accepted an RFP recommendation for teacher laptops (Lenovo ThinkBook/ThinkPad specification) at about $859.53 per unit, a total of roughly $73,000 for the 85 units budgeted. Trustees also approved a three-year lease-purchase for 370 student Chromebooks (annual payment approx. $39,970.89; three-year total ~$113,172) and authorized the business administrator to execute lease documents.
Technology director Keith summarized the 'Future Ready' plan, recommending the district keep its replacement cycles (teacher laptops and Chromebooks on a roughly four-year service life) and noting the trade-offs between buying versus leasing and between cloud vs. on‑prem infrastructure. He reported roughly 430 IT support tickets closed from April 1 to May 15 and outlined staff levels: a director, a network administrator, three building technicians, a 0.5 FTE database specialist and 0.4 FTE shared administrative support (around 5.9 FTE total).
Board members requested more granular ticket analytics (breakdowns by ticket type such as interactive-panel issues, battery failures, or software problems) and asked administration to schedule a workshop on technology replacement cycles and instructional use, especially to examine screen-time balance and device use in elementary versus high school classrooms.
Administration said small budget differences in the RFPs would be absorbed within the technology fund and noted the district will continue to pursue E-rate and other funding offsets where possible.
