by Alexandra Brewer
Brevard High School students will receive new Chromebooks to replace the malfunctioning ones that students currently have. The faulty machines are posing a problem in students getting their work done.
photo by Alexandra Brewer
Sophomore Bailey Shuler completes her work on an older Chromebook.
Transylvania County Schools first started the 1:1 program of supplying students with the portable laptop with basic functioning systems in the fall semester of 2012 to provide students with more resources and keep better track of their work and to help teacher distribute information more easily, and overall to encourage communication between the two.
The current model at BHS is the Samsung 500. The machines purchased originally were some of the first on the market, and, therefore, some of the first of their kind. For the past three years, they have held up well. However, with constant use and daily battering, these laptops have eventually had some problems.
Hale Durant, the lead technical supervisor and Chromebook specialist at BHS, said,“[Chromebooks] have held up well enough when students take care of them, but even still we are seeing a lot screens starting to fail and other problems that can be summed by saying we’ve simple worn these Chromebooks out.”
The new chromebook model at BHS.
The District Technology department recognized this issue and began an initiative to raise money for new machines. The Board of Education has approved a $288,000 grant to replace the devices currently at Brevard High School. The new model is the Dell Chromebook 11. Both Durant and Norris Barger, the school system’s director of finance, agree that these models are modern and durable and will withstand the strain of use.
The shipment is coming in at the end of September and should be in the hands of students before spring semester.