Fulton County school system leaders plan the most expansive effort yet by a Georgia school district to make technology available to students.
They want to give students mobile devices like tablets or small laptops to take home in an effort to boost classroom learning, starting this fall.
The devices are expected to be rolled out in about 20 elementary, middle and high schools by December, with up to 20,000 given out by the end of the year, Fulton officials said Wednesday, when they discussed the technology rollout at a school board meeting.
The district hopes to equip all middle and high school students with the devices by 2017. For students in kindergarten through fifth grade, more devices will be put in classrooms. Fulton leaders would like all elementary students to have access to the devices eventually, and be able to bring them home.
The cost for the devices is projected at nearly $28.3 million, and would come from SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax) funds, an idea that has been controversial before. A Cobb County plan in 2005 to give students take-home laptops fell through after it spurred a lawsuit over paying for them with SPLOST funds and the superintendent resigned.
“Forever the teacher’s been trying to make learning unique for every kid, trying to meet all their different needs,” said Scott Muri, Fulton deputy superintendent for academics. “But we haven’t been at a place in education to really do that effectively until technology came along. So now a teacher not only can understand kids are learning and growing in different ways, but they can actually use tools to help them learn in different ways … that’s what we’re doing in Fulton, personalizing the experience for kids.”
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