AUBURN – On typical evenings, MaryKate and Jaclyn Masters, both 13, do homework on laptop computers they take home from Auburn Middle School.

Having laptops at home “is a great thing the state has done,” said their mother, Sandra Masters. The laptops help her twins do better-quality school work, she said. “They’ve shown me PowerPoint presentations they’ve done.”

The family has a home computer, but it doesn’t have the same programs that teachers use in classrooms, Masters said.

Until this year, laptops didn’t go home with Lewiston-Auburn students because of fear they’d be stolen, broken or damaged.

But laptops at home was the intent of former Gov. Angus King’s program, who said all Maine kids – rich and poor – should have technology at home.

So the state is forcing the issue.

Next year, as a condition of having laptops from the state, all seventh- and eighth-graders must be allowed to take them home. Auburn began allowing students to take laptops home in November.

At the Masters’ home, the twins have to follow rules.

“If I’m not at home, they’re not allowed to be on the computer,” Masters said. “They have to ask me to go online. I don’t mind instant messaging, but they have time limits.”

Lewiston school officials won’t allow students to take home computers until next year. They are crafting a parental responsibility policy that will likely be similar to Auburn’s, said Lewiston technology coordinator Joseph Julias.

Regionally, students are allowed to take laptops home in Farmington, Livermore Falls, Mechanic Falls and Monmouth. They are not allowed to in Buckfield, Lisbon and Oxford Hills. Statewide, more than half the middle schools are sending laptops home now, according to the Maine Department of Education.

Who pays?

The big reason laptops have not gone home earlier is not knowing who pays if they are broken or lost, said Auburn Middle School technology coordinator Carl Bucciantini. Replacing one can cost up to $1,000.

The answer in Auburn and Mechanic Falls is parents, said Bucciantini and Gi Gi Lee of the Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls.

Before Auburn students can take laptops home, parents must attend an orientation session and sign a form agreeing to be financially responsible.

Many parents have done that. Of 524 seventh- and eighth-graders, 331 parents have signed the form, Bucciantini said. “That’s 60 percent, higher than I expected.”

So far, the take-home program is working well, he said. “I’d give it an A.”

Six students have lost the privilege because their parents discovered they were using the laptops for entertainment, and only one has been damaged, Bucciantini said.

Initially, schools were told the state would provide replacement laptops, said Auburn Assistant Superintendent Tom Morrill. But the number of available replacements was smaller than expected, only 1 percent, or about five for Auburn. That’s not enough of a cushion, Bucciantini said.

The size of the statewide laptop replacement pool will grow next year because of declining student enrollments and fewer-than-expected broken laptops, said Jeff Mao, coordinator of education technology for the Maine Department of Education.

Since September, the state has replaced 36 of 36,000 laptops, Mao said. “That’s way below 1 percent,” he said. If that trend continues for the rest of the year, the unused replacements will be added to next year’s pool.

Tips for parents

Set limits on how, and how much, kids use school computers at home. Schoolwork is the priority, followed by entertainment.

Talk about how expensive laptops are and that it’s the students’ responsibility to take care of them.

Monitor how students use laptops. At school, the networks are filtered, which restricts where students can go online.

Ensure laptops and computers are not in bedrooms. Kids should use them in common places where adults can see the screens.

Check with teachers. If a student’s work is poor or not getting done, suspending laptop privileges may be in order.

Source: Auburn Middle School

Laptop policies

Regionally, students are allowed to take laptops home in Farmington, Livermore Falls, Mechanic Falls and Monmouth. They are not allowed to in Buckfield, Lisbon and Oxford Hills.