FARMINGTON – The SAD 9 board hit the enter key Tuesday night on allowing Mount Blue Middle School students to take their Apple iBook laptops home, at least for a trial run.

For five weeks beginning after students return from vacation April 26, the 430 or so middle school students with the state-issued laptops will get to take the computers home, but only under strict guidelines.

All seventh- and eighth-graders at the school have the iBooks, said Principal Gary Oswald.

Proposed by Chris Brinkman, the laptop sign-out policy stresses that the iBooks are educational tools and should be used only in that capacity.

In order for the computer to go home, the parent/guardian must attend a family orientation meeting with their child and complete a sign-out agreement form.

While at home the iBooks will be used in the same manner that is expected at school and school not be taken out of the state.

The policy also suggests that the laptops be used in a common area so that adults can supervise their use.

If a laptop is broken, parents are responsible for the first $100 of repairs. After that, the district picks up the cost. Brinkman says to fix a frame bent from being dropped, it costs around $250; to repair a broken screen, $700.

Apple issued tougher cases for the computers this year and that has cut down on damage.

If the iBook is lost due to lack of prudent supervision, the parent may pay the total replacement cost.

Parents must agree to having their child sign out the laptop. Only about half of the parents will do so, Oswald projected.

Laptops and accessories must be checked back into school the day after they were signed out or students will lose their sign-out privileges for a month.

Students will not have Internet connection at home under the proposal, Superintendent Michael Cormier said.

If the pilot program is a success, judged by a low rate of damage to the iBooks, the district hopes to have a permanent policy to allow students to take computers home.

Cormier noted that often students start school papers and projects on their laptops during the day but have to recreate their work at home on a home computer because the laptops have no floppy disk drive for students to save their work.

The state’s goal with the laptop initiative is to get the computers into the homes, Cormier stressed.

The middle school has had few problems with the iBooks, Brinkman said.

“It really has been a very good success” he said. “The successes here far outweigh the damages.”

Board members Joyce Morton of Farmington and Susan Black of Wilton expressed reluctance to send the computers home. Both wondered who would pay to fix them if the repair was more than $100.

After short discussion, the board approved the sign-out policy 11-1, with Francis Orcutt of Farmington against the motion.

“If were are going to teach our students responsibility,” said Robert Pullo of Wilton, “we have to give them responsibility.”

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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