Seventh graders at Richfield Springs Central School now have a new tool to help them with their education.
Students were issued the MacBook laptops during a ceremony in the school’s LGI room on Friday. The laptops are part of a new school program called “1 to 1 laptop,” where each student has his or her own computer for school work.
Richfield Springs Central School Superintendent Robert Barraco said the students now have “the latest, greatest tools to work with.”
Students will keep the computer until the 10th grade when they will be issued new, updated ones. The incoming seventh-grade class in September will be issued laptops. Richfield Springs Central School Principal Penny Harrington said they hope all students between fifth grade and 12th grade will have their own laptops by 2015.
“This is huge,” said Harrington, who said students had recently been sharing laptops. “They feel very fortunate to have these computers. And for a district our size, this is so fantastic.”
Harrington said they ordered 46 laptops costing about $859 a piece. There are 40 students in the seventh-grade class with one student’s parent opting out of using it due to liability concerns.
Harrington said the district will host a “Show and Tell” night for parents to demonstrate how the computers are used before students start bringing them home. She said some parents had expressed concerns about the computers being lost or damaged while the students had it outside of school. Harrington noted that students would not have them during the summer break.
Teachers first participated in a laptop program six years ago. In a press release, the teachers said the program “resulted in greater computer fluency and more importantly fostered creative teaching styles and lessons for the students.”
A slide show — put together by French teacher Shelly Vanderwerken — ran before the ceremony started. It included photos of students using laptop computers and quotes directly from them about how they felt about the new initiative.
“It will be nice to have information on computers (rather) than on a notebook that I can lose,” said one quote.
Another said: “It will help my grades go up because I will have more fun way of doing work.”
One student also saw it as a tool that will help later in life.
“In the future when I get a job, I know I will need to know how to use a computer,” read the quote.
Students and teachers clapped and cheered as the students each received a laptop and computer case from Barraco and state Education Commissioner David Steiner. Three cases had not yet been delivered to the school and will be issued to the students once they arrive.
After the ceremony, the students were instructed on how to care, maintain and use their laptops.
Barraco said the students were excited to get started and that this was a great opportunity for them.
“What really made this go was the board of education. When we came to them, they had lots of questions, but very supportive and said go ahead and take the risk,” said Barraco. He also thanked the seventh- and eighth-grade staff for spearheading the project and other school staff.
The laptops were provided through the Carol Mixter fund. Mixter was a teacher in the Richfield Springs school district back in the 1930s and 1940s.
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Seventh graders at Richfield Springs Central School now have a new tool to help them with their education.
Students were issued the MacBook laptops during a ceremony in the school’s LGI room on Friday. The laptops are part of a new school program called “1 to 1 laptop,” where each student has his or her own computer for school work.
Richfield Springs Central School Superintendent Robert Barraco said the students now have “the latest, greatest tools to work with.”
Students will keep the computer until the 10th grade when they will be issued new, updated ones. The incoming seventh-grade class in September will be issued laptops. Richfield Springs Central School Principal Penny Harrington said they hope all students between fifth grade and 12th grade will have their own laptops by 2015.
“This is huge,” said Harrington, who said students had recently been sharing laptops. “They feel very fortunate to have these computers. And for a district our size, this is so fantastic.”
Harrington said they ordered 46 laptops costing about $859 a piece. There are 40 students in the seventh-grade class with one student’s parent opting out of using it due to liability concerns.
Harrington said the district will host a “Show and Tell” night for parents to demonstrate how the computers are used before students start bringing them home. She said some parents had expressed concerns about the computers being lost or damaged while the students had it outside of school. Harrington noted that students would not have them during the summer break.
Teachers first participated in a laptop program six years ago. In a press release, the teachers said the program “resulted in greater computer fluency and more importantly fostered creative teaching styles and lessons for the students.”
A slide show — put together by French teacher Shelly Vanderwerken — ran before the ceremony started. It included photos of students using laptop computers and quotes directly from them about how they felt about the new initiative.
“It will be nice to have information on computers (rather) than on a notebook that I can lose,” said one quote.
Another said: “It will help my grades go up because I will have more fun way of doing work.”
One student also saw it as a tool that will help later in life.
“In the future when I get a job, I know I will need to know how to use a computer,” read the quote.
Students and teachers clapped and cheered as the students each received a laptop and computer case from Barraco and state Education Commissioner David Steiner. Three cases had not yet been delivered to the school and will be issued to the students once they arrive.
After the ceremony, the students were instructed on how to care, maintain and use their laptops.
Barraco said the students were excited to get started and that this was a great opportunity for them.
“What really made this go was the board of education. When we came to them, they had lots of questions, but very supportive and said go ahead and take the risk,” said Barraco. He also thanked the seventh- and eighth-grade staff for spearheading the project and other school staff.
The laptops were provided through the Carol Mixter fund. Mixter was a teacher in the Richfield Springs school district back in the 1930s and 1940s.
