K-12 Computing Blueprint has already reported on the one-to-one program awaiting students at Heritage Hill elementary, a new school in Springdale, Ohio. Now, the local paper adds information on how they paid for the technology.

Tim Dugan, director of technology and information for Princeton City Schools, found a way to provide a computer for each of the 325 pupils at Heritage Hill without spending any more money than is allotted to other elementary schools in the system.

Previously, each classroom had between one and three desktop computers, depending on the grade level. Each teacher also had a computer, and each floor had a mobile cart that held 30 laptop computers.

Dugan bought HP thin client computers that will be wirelessly connected to a hard drive at Princeton Community Middle School. Teachers will have full-functioning, independent laptops. Says Dugan, "The computers will be lighter because there's no hard drive installed, and they will use less energy because they don't need a cooling fan.”

The laptops are due to arrive Jan. 14, and Dugan will set them up grade-by-grade, starting with fifth. He plans to eventually incorporate this system into the other schools, as funding and need arise.

Source: The Community Press, Heritage Hill to use laptops for learning, by Kelly McBride Reddy