From a new principal, to a new school, to another new principal Marysville High School has undergone multiple changes in the past couple years. The most recent change occurred when an announcement was made that the graduating class of 2018 along with all the teachers will be receiving laptops for in and out of school use. One of the biggest questions going around the school is why. Why is it happening, why this class, why now? Chris Deis, MEVSD’s IT Director, is the man with the answers to those questions.
“This year is our pilot year. We started looking into this 2-3 years ago and the cost was too much. It wasn’t until last year that we really decided to go for it. Around Fall of 2014 I started doing research on the program and looking at the successes and failures of the other schools who have used the 1:1 Program (one device per child, the name of the project). Then in the winter I brought the idea to the board along with a couple spreadsheets. They were very enthusiastic about the idea and then we put it into action. Again this is our pilot year and if all goes well this year then we’ll be buying Chromebooks next year for the fifth, seventh and tenth graders. The reason that we started with the sophomore class is because they will have the Chromebooks for 3 years, rather than giving them to the senior class, and it’s more of a psychological matter. Are you going to take better care of something that’s your responsibility for one year or three years? Probably the three year device. So this way, each student will be given a Chromebook that they’ll use until they graduate. Once they graduate, we’re going to clean it and remove any affiliation that MEVSD has with it and then sell it to the family for a very low price. It’s not going to be free but it’s going to be much less expensive than buying it from Best Buy. By the school year of 2018-2019 every student in grade 3 to grade 12 will have a Chromebook for personal use. The research that backed this for the most part is called blended learning. Schoology and Google Drive are both tools for blended learning. A national study carried out by the Department of Education realized that blended learning is a more effective way of teaching. not everybody learns the same way and giving the laptops to students will give them access to learning both in the classroom and if that doesn’t work for them then online. Having filtered content is a necessity regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires us to block certain websites or else we wouldn’t get the funding needed for this project to become reality.”
What do the upperclassmen think of the opportunity given to a younger class? Abbey Edwards and AJ Moots, seniors, are in agreement that this is a positive step towards helping our students become as successful as possible. Moots makes a good point that “a lot of underprivileged students attend MHS who wouldn’t have had this opportunity on their own. In addition to teaching responsibility and respect, exposing students to computers more often [than just in class] will diversify their skill set.” Edwards concurs with “there’s no such thing as too much help.” It’s always nice to have an upper class be okay with the advantage of the younger.
Aryn Fisher, a sophomore attending Early College High School (ECHS), feels “privileged because not only has my class been able to attend ECHS but now we’re the first to have laptops for personal use. I’m not afraid of losing it or damaging it because I’ve never lost something that wasn’t entirely mine and we have to return the computers at the end of the year.” Confidence can go a long way but for someone like Kaylee Schlecht who is “really worried because it’s very expensive and I drop my phone all the time and it’s not small enough to fit in my bookbag. Even so the case feels pretty strong and even if I do drop the laptop, so long as I keep it in the case my nerves a little relieved. I honestly don’t like this opportunity because we haven’t been able to get used to it. Now it’s our responsibility and it’s nerve wracking.” Even if the views of the students are split up, both of the parents are excited for this opportunity. “This is hers to use at her own will. She won’t have to wait for somebody else that’s using the home computer. The only thing that I’m worried about is her clumsiness,” says Brenda Schlecht (Kaylee’s mother).
“This year is our pilot year. We started looking into this 2-3 years ago and the cost was too much. It wasn’t until last year that we really decided to go for it. Around Fall of 2014 I started doing research on the program and looking at the successes and failures of the other schools who have used the 1:1 Program (one device per child, the name of the project). Then in the winter I brought the idea to the board along with a couple spreadsheets. They were very enthusiastic about the idea and then we put it into action. Again this is our pilot year and if all goes well this year then we’ll be buying Chromebooks next year for the fifth, seventh and tenth graders. The reason that we started with the sophomore class is because they will have the Chromebooks for 3 years, rather than giving them to the senior class, and it’s more of a psychological matter. Are you going to take better care of something that’s your responsibility for one year or three years? Probably the three year device. So this way, each student will be given a Chromebook that they’ll use until they graduate. Once they graduate, we’re going to clean it and remove any affiliation that MEVSD has with it and then sell it to the family for a very low price. It’s not going to be free but it’s going to be much less expensive than buying it from Best Buy. By the school year of 2018-2019 every student in grade 3 to grade 12 will have a Chromebook for personal use. The research that backed this for the most part is called blended learning. Schoology and Google Drive are both tools for blended learning. A national study carried out by the Department of Education realized that blended learning is a more effective way of teaching. not everybody learns the same way and giving the laptops to students will give them access to learning both in the classroom and if that doesn’t work for them then online. Having filtered content is a necessity regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires us to block certain websites or else we wouldn’t get the funding needed for this project to become reality.”
What do the upperclassmen think of the opportunity given to a younger class? Abbey Edwards and AJ Moots, seniors, are in agreement that this is a positive step towards helping our students become as successful as possible. Moots makes a good point that “a lot of underprivileged students attend MHS who wouldn’t have had this opportunity on their own. In addition to teaching responsibility and respect, exposing students to computers more often [than just in class] will diversify their skill set.” Edwards concurs with “there’s no such thing as too much help.” It’s always nice to have an upper class be okay with the advantage of the younger.
Aryn Fisher, a sophomore attending Early College High School (ECHS), feels “privileged because not only has my class been able to attend ECHS but now we’re the first to have laptops for personal use. I’m not afraid of losing it or damaging it because I’ve never lost something that wasn’t entirely mine and we have to return the computers at the end of the year.” Confidence can go a long way but for someone like Kaylee Schlecht who is “really worried because it’s very expensive and I drop my phone all the time and it’s not small enough to fit in my bookbag. Even so the case feels pretty strong and even if I do drop the laptop, so long as I keep it in the case my nerves a little relieved. I honestly don’t like this opportunity because we haven’t been able to get used to it. Now it’s our responsibility and it’s nerve wracking.” Even if the views of the students are split up, both of the parents are excited for this opportunity. “This is hers to use at her own will. She won’t have to wait for somebody else that’s using the home computer. The only thing that I’m worried about is her clumsiness,” says Brenda Schlecht (Kaylee’s mother).