Picture this: You open your laptop, and after five minutes of watching the circle spin around and around, you finally gain access to your desktop. From there, you click on the google chrome icon in the bottom right hand corner, and wait another few minutes for it to open. You then head over to your class’s Google Classroom page, only to find the disheartening screen saying “No internet connection.”

Using older-school laptops is no easy task, as many of Spring-Ford’s students have learned.

This familiar frustration should end soon.

The high school will issue laptops to the current sophomores and juniors beginning in the 2020-2021 school year.
To better understand how this program will play out, students need only look to current freshman, as they are the trial for the laptop rollout. The class of 2023 was given laptops over the summer.

As students toured the building in August prior to the first day of school, students received their device, a case, a charger, and an instructional videos on how to properly care for the equipment.

“For us, we wanted them to have (the laptops) for the first day,” Dr. Theresa Weidenbaugh, ninth grade building principal, said. “Our teachers, because of their training, wanted to use them the first day.”

This expedited transition allowed for immediate organization and instruction within the classrooms, allowing students to easily settle into the new high school atmosphere.

What exactly do the laptops look like?

The current freshman class has chromebooks with a protective case. The laptops hold a charge for 12 hours and provide every student with access to the Google Suite. Styles of laptops may change over the years, however, with the needs of the various classes.

The reviews of ninth-grade laptops seem positive.

“I’ve liked (the new laptops) a lot,” ninth-grader Abigail Duersch said. “Compared to the iPads and previous laptops we had in carts, the laptops work really well and I use them in just about every class.”

According to Spring-Ford Director of Technology Robert Catalano, each incoming ninth-grade class will receive brand new laptops moving forward that will be used all four years. Ninth-grade students will receive their laptops before the school year starts, paying a technology fee of $25 for the time they have them out (so will juniors and seniors next year).

Should a student pay the fee all four years and graduate, they are able to take the laptop to college with them. New devices to juniors and seniors next year will need to be returned when they graduate because they will have been used less than four years. Students will hold onto the laptops the whole year, ensuing summers included.

Incoming freshmen, juniors, and seniors will all receive a new Chromebook later this summer (sophomores will retain their devices they utilized this year). The current laptop carts in the 10-12 Center are going to the Eighth Grade Center to assist with professional development.

The transition to these new devices is a major undertaking, and Weidenbaugh credits administration and cooperative teachers for its ease thus far.

“[The board] recognized the vision of, we have to train the staff,” Weidenbaugh said. “That was awesome. Kudos to the board and district office, they really recognized the importance of that.”

The training of teachers to become familiar with the technology allowed for a smooth transition within classrooms.

However, some 10-12 students have concerns such as whether they can bring their own devices and how often the laptops will be needed. For management purposes, the expectation is that students will utilize the school-issued laptops only.

Early reviews of the new laptops are positive.

“You have a personal laptop which means you don’t have to go to the library or use another person’s laptop so there is always a way to get online homework done,” Duersch said. “They work really well when it comes to battery life (if you remember to charge it once every two days) and internet connection … if you remember the old laptops.”

Despite some hesitation from students, many are wondering what is the next step?

“We’re looking to take what we did with the freshmen, and do it at the 10-12 building next year,” Catalano said.

Catalano added that training is planned at the 5-9 level to replicate training that high school teachers currently have within the modernized learning program.