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WASTEFUL SPENDING PATROL -- The Stillwater (MN) Board of Education voted 4-2 on September 22, 2003 to go forward with a proposal to give every junior high student and each junior high teacher a laptop to use at home and school. The five-year initiative, which would cost taxpayers $2,850,000, gives laptops to 135 staff members and 2,270 students at Oak-Land and Stillwater junior high schools, starting in September 2004. The laptops would be leased from Apple Computer for five years, and the school would pay $350,000 the first year and $625,000 per year for the next four years. Delivery, setup, training and software are included in the leasing agreement, and the program can be expanded at a later date for $130,000 per year per grade.

All in all, this doesn't sound like an unreasonable asking price for services rendered, but there are still many questions that should be answered before this type of proposal should be implemented.

Why is this necessary?

Stillwater School Board President Christy Hlavacek claims that "there is evidence that it improves achievement in the basics - reading, writing and math." Fascinating. I--and pretty much everybody else in the state--learned the Three R's without a laptop. Forty years ago, nobody had a computer at all. Now, I'd understand if school officials claimed that the laptops could be used for science and social studies research, as well as typing reports, but the best way to teach math is with more primitive materials, and the best way to teach reading is to crack open a book. As for writing, it might be helpful if students were able to compose the occasional assignment in longhand. Maybe these skills are a lost art, but maybe this program will create more learning challenges than it solves.

What happens when the computers get damaged, misplaced, or stolen?

A number of parents at the school board meeting where the plan was approved cited concerns like this. Several parents shared anecdotes about their kids losing a graphing calculator nearly every year, and they project that any laptop issued to their children may have the same fate. One parent spoke of some college orientations she had attended, where officials recommended that parents buy desktop computers instead of laptops because students tend to lose them frequently. Of course, her point was that if college students cannot keep track of a laptop, how can junior high students be expected to do so? District officials offered no answer to the question of how they'd pay for missing or busted units.

How are they going to pay for this?

The district plans to use money from the junior high technology funds, plus $400,000 annually from a 2002 technology levy, as well as money from a capital technology fund. But, in the third year, the district would have to come up with an additional funding source. In other words, the district hasn't figured out how to pay for the project after the first two years. On top of this, there are accusations that the board is shoving this down the throats of parents. Not only does the board not answer the tough questions, but the issue has only been discussed for a month and a half. Still, board chair Hlavacek says that plenty of debate has taken place at board and PTA meetings (how much debate can happen in just six or seven weeks?!?), and that the board needs to move ahead right away in order to get the program in place by Fall 2004.

Yes, of course. It's vital that this is in place in 2004. 2005 is too late! Yeah, right. Luckily, at least one official has retained his common sense. Stillwater School Board member George Thole isn't shy about criticizing this concept. "I'm about as cold on this thing as a beached whale...it's a grandiose plan." Thole is also critical of the fact that no other district in Minnesota has embarked on a similar effort. "It's a real big commitment, and I don't want to be on the bloody edge. Let some other schools try it and see how it goes for them." The only program that resembles this one is the grant-funded program where the Class of 2002 at Minneapolis' North and Washburn High Schools were issued laptops for use during the school year...and several students who got the laptops complained about their lack of functionality. But unless this gets stopped, we'll get to see another case study, because despite all the parental objections and lack of in-depth discussions, the school board's majority appears to have made up it's mind. As board member Thole puts it, "I kind of feel like I'm being slam-dunked. Why are we going so fast? Let's not mistake bold for foolish."--Mr. T Bagger, Editor-at-Large

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