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SVVSD to update student, teacher iPads, provide keyboards and cases

The SVVSD school board on Wednesday approved an amendment to the district’s lease purchase agreement with Apple for more than $14 million to purchase 26,500 iPads with rugged keyboard cases, and provide support services and teacher professional development.
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St. Vrain Valley School District students and teachers are in for an iPad upgrade. 

The district over the next three years plans to replace fifth- and sixth-generation iPads with eighth-generation tablets and provide all third through 12th grade students with Logitech keyboards and cases.

The SVVSD school board on Wednesday approved an amendment to the district’s lease purchase agreement with Apple for more than $14 million in support of the Learning Technology Plan, an initiative created in 2012 after voters passed a mill levy override to strengthen the district’s capacity to equip students with 21st century technology tools.

The first lease agreement with Apple started in 2011.

The amended lease includes the purchase of 26,500 iPads with rugged keyboard cases, and provide support services and teacher professional development, according to a memo SVVSD Superintendent Don Haddad sent to the board. 

“The most exciting thing for us is that we continue to innovate in how we help our students be productive, be creative, how we give them the tools to create, to produce, to read, to learn,” said Michelle Bourgeois, SVVSD’s chief technology officer. “This is one more step thanks to visionary work that Dr. Haddad has led and all of you (the board of education and the District Technology Services team) have supported.”

In the past decade, the district has seen exponential growth of opportunities for student engagement and learning using digital technologies, which was accelerated over the past year, she said. “COVID brought this whole new appreciation of value.”

Prior to the pandemic, iPads were available for middle and high school students to take home during the school year. Last year, the district added more devices to ensure all students could take home an iPad for remote learning. 

“This year made me realize these are not tools for occasional productivity, but tools (students) use as primary devices to access learning, adding the keyboard just made a lot of sense,” Bourgeois said.  

One of the biggest advantages of the new technology is keyboards will save students time spent with assessments, according to Kahle Charles, assistant superintendent of assessment, curriculum and instruction at SVVSD. 

“(With the new keyboards) we could test a whole school at one time and (students) do not have to cycle through classrooms and Chromebooks. This would save time for instruction and other learning purposes,” he said. “We could potentially save days of time to get (assessments) done.”

Other advantages of digital materials also include more robust engagement that allows teachers the opportunity to “create curiosity” in students, he said.

“Our students are wired differently, they are digital natives, a digital curriculum ... has images, video and media embedded, it’s interactive and much more robust. If there are words you don't know, you can look it up. Some programs have homeworks checkers and can take students to a place to get further tutoring. It's a huge advantage,” Charles said. “This has extended students’ time and place of learning, really extended the learning day.”

Using digital materials also can help save costs for printed learning materials, he said. 

“You can buy a certain amount of copies of (books), and they are not going to wear out. We will save money over time not having to buy paper that gets lost or gets torn up,” he said.

In addition to working with Apple to receive a good deal for the purchase, SVVSD also sell older generation iPads, according to Bourgeois.   

“We work with providers to buy back technology that still has a useful life for others. ... The good news is that when we do this refresh and sell the devices, we will make almost what we need to make that first payment (to Apple),” she said, adding the buy-back will cover close to 30% of the cost of giving every student upgraded devices and acquiring the keyboards. 

“We want to be incredibly thoughtful about how to bring the best opportunities for learning for kids, but we are still continually investigating investments in things like technology and thinking about where they fit and how to get better at it,” she said. “We do this with a ton of foresight and thought about what is best for kids.”


Silvia Romero Solís

About the Author: Silvia Romero Solís

Después de viajar por el mundo, Silvia llegó a establecerse en Longmont. Ella busca usar su experiencia en comunicaciones y cultura para crear más equidad y diversidad en las noticias de Longmont.
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