RUMFORD – Parents and students have two more chances to learn the rules required before district-issued laptop computers can be taken home.

John Wallace, a Mountain Valley Middle School teacher and teacher leader for the Maine Learning Technology Initiative for laptop usage in the classroom, said at least one parent and the student must attend either of the meetings as part of the district’s take-home policy for grades 7 through 10.

The parent and student must attend to learn the specific requirements that must be met before the laptops can be signed out. Among these mandates is payment of a $30 non-refundable fee for the Damage Protection Plan.

If a family has more than one child in grades 7-10, the maximum fee will be $50 for the rest of the school year.

Each student must also study the usage guidelines and lists of do’s and don’t’s, then pass a test before they are issued laptops.

This is the third year for SAD 43 middle school students to have use of laptops in the classroom. The program extends to Mountain Valley High School students in grades 9 and 10 by late December or early January, said Bruce Lindberg, high school principal.

Sixth-graders have access to laptops through a mobile lab that contains enough of the computers for each child in a class.

Laptop use by seventh- and eighth-graders has been used for word processing as well as for research, said Wallace.

When the laptops are allowed home, Internet access will be through Rumford’s and Mexico’s public libraries. The libraries have installed wireless Internet access specifically for the local laptop program.

While SAD 43 has a filtering system to limit student access to inappropriate sites during school hours, the libraries do not, stated Wallace in a news release.

GO AND DO

What: Parent/student meetings required for taking laptops home

When: 3-4 p.m., Monday, Dec. 13, and 6:30-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 15

Where: Mountain Valley High School