Last week, the Manhattan Beach School Board held a series of workshops to discuss the potential expansion of the school district’s iPad pilot program.
The district is hoping to expand the program so that every student at Manhattan Beach Middle School has access to an iPad in class. For the proposal to be financially affordable for the district, 70 percent of middle school parents have to provide an iPad for their kids.
Parents would have the option to either allow their child to use an iPad they already have at home, to buy a 16-gigabyte iPad 2 through the school for $468 (including applications and sales tax), to lease the iPad under different payment plans ($54 per month for nine months, or $28 per month for 18 months), or to check the iPad out from the school at no cost.
“A lot of families are really struggling in this financial climate, so we wanted to have different options for parents,” said Carolyn Seaton, the district’s executive director of educational services. Out of the 130 families surveyed by the district, 87 percent answered that they’d be willing to shell out the cash for an iPad, or lend an iPad they already own to their child for school purposes. The middle school has 1,400 students, with some families having more than one child at the school.
At the middle school, 56 percent of teachers agreed with the proposal, while 21 percent disagreed and 22 percent were neutral, according to a district-administered survey.
In workshop discussions, school board members were concerned about parents making an investment that teachers don’t fully embrace, and hoped to come back with more data from teachers and parents. “The biggest burden goes to the parents; can the parents afford it?” asked Penny Bordokas, vice president of the board.
One middle school parent who asked not to be identified said that she’d spoken to parents who were willing to buy an iPad, but as a result would donate less to the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation. “There will be people in the community who will be more than happy to pay for them, I think, and there will be people in the community who will be not happy to pay for them,” she said. “I think that’s something you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out.”
In the digital age, adolescents are so used to using technology, Seaton said, “they’ve never known a world without personal technology and smart phones and laptops. If we don’t tap into that in the classroom, we’re really losing an opportunity.”
Out of the 560 iPads used in the district this year, about six have needed repairs due to cracked screens. Seaton doesn’t anticipate damaged devices being a problem if the program were to expand. “They’re bright kids, I think when they have a backpack full of binders, they’re not going to treat it the same way as a backpack with something valuable inside,” Seaton said.
MBUSD found test scores increased from last year in an eighth grade science class piloting iPads. On Maggie Mabery’s DNA test, 2 percent of students scored below basic this year, compared to 10 percent last year. Forty-two percent scored advanced this year, compared to 27 percent last year.
Mabery has found the tool to enhance learning and creativity in her classroom, and help bridge the gap between home and school. “Creativity, for kids, is the highest level of thinking,” she said. “(The iPad) lets them be a little more free-thinking.” For example, her students have completed video projects with iMovie through which they’ve simulated actions of cell organelles, she said.
Karl Kurz, science teacher at Mira Costa High School and president of the Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association, said that if the district chooses to go this route, they may have the American Civil Liberties Union to contend with. The ACLU is accusing a Poway elementary school, which has presented a similar proposal to parents, of violating the law in pressuring parents to buy iPads so their kids can participate in the program.
“Intentionally or not, the school is dangerously close to charging an illegal fee. I’m sure the district wants the best for its students, and we sympathize with the budgetary problems all schools are facing,” said David Loy, legal director for the San Diego ACLU, in a release on the ACLU website. “But school finance problems can’t be solved by breaking the law. Schools are free to conduct truly voluntary fundraising, but they can’t pressure families to pay unlawful fees.”
Seaton said that for parents, checking out a school-owned iPad is an option. “Prior to even hearing about that, we wanted to be very transparent in our communication that checking out a device is always an option,” she said.
Kurz thinks the school board needs to study the program more thoroughly before expanding. “It’s not the iPad that teaches the kids,” he said. “It’s our teachers in the classroom that make a big difference.”
He said he doesn’t think the district is making teachers a budget priority. “If you have amazing test scores, does it matter really what you use to teach?” he asked.
The board will further discuss and vote on the expansion during the next board meeting on June 6.
