The decision by school leaders at Beverly High School in Massachusetts to require parents to purchase laptops for their students when they move to a brand new high school in the fall of 2011 is stirring up controversy—especially since the district is prescribing the models people must buy. As the local newspaper puts it, "Some parents are questioning the requirement because the school has decreed that the laptops must be Apple MacBooks, which cost $900, rather than personal computers, which usually are less expensive."

PC computers will not be compatible with the new computer network in the new $80 million high school opening in November, 2011. Superintendent James Hayes Jr. defends the decision to standardize on one platform. "If everyone has the same laptop, then it's no longer about the tool, it's about how we use it," he said, adding that students will use laptops for collaborative learning, video-conferencing, e-mail, and to access design programs.

Hayes is also quick to point out that the school is offering ways to help families with the BYO requirement. Parents will be able to lease a MacBook for $25 a month. Students who come from low-income families will be offered a free or a discounted computer, and students who don't wish to participate in either of those two approaches can have a computer to use at school during the day.

The new high school will have its own Apple tech center to take care of computers.

Source: Boston.com, Beverly High to require costly MacBooks in '11