Virginia High School, in Illinois' Community Unit School District 64, recently approved a $170,000 proposal for a 1:1 laptop program. The money will go towards the purchase of 115 Apple MacBook laptops, in addition to upgrades to the school's wireless network and various other services. The $170,000 will be paid over a four-year period. The school purchased approximately 20 laptops for teachers last summer.

High school social studies teacher Jeff Bennett is one of the Virginia High faculty members who believes strongly that computers are important for education. He encourages his students to create podcasts, make movies and insert audio and video clips into research papers and presentations. His students will start working with University of Illinois graduate students and professors on monthly webinars.

By signing a contract and paying a $50 annual fee (to cover insurance and other basics) students will be able to take the laptops home if they wish to. The school will take certain precautions to protect the laptops – including guidelines for acceptable use and monitoring by the school and parents. Students are participating in fund raising activities to help pay for the computer program.

"Educationally, it's going to open the door to all of our kids to a much richer education," says superintendent Lynn Carter, who suggests that the technology might decrease the need for textbooks in the near future. "Textbooks, to me, are very limited. In scope, we're going well beyond what textbooks could offer."

Source: My Journal Courier, Apple program approved at Virginia High School by Jake Russell.