RBUSD picking Apples for student/tablet program
The Redondo Beach Unified School District is trading figurative oranges for literal Apples next year. The RBUSD Board of Education voted at its June 26 meeting to replace Google-powered tablets with Apple iPads in its one-to-one student/computer program. The change comes four years after the district successfully piloted the one-to-one program, which assigned sets of Android-based tablets to transitional kindergarten through first-grade classrooms and Chromebook laptops to second-grade classrooms. The program, which also individually assigns Chromebooks to students in grades three and up, was funded by the 2012 Measure Q bond. According to RBUSD Chief Technology Director Derek Kinsey, Android parent company Google has ended support of its “Google Play for Education” program, leaving the fleet obsolete. This spring, after identifying Apple’s iPads as a possible replacement, RBUSD quietly tested the new devices in three district classrooms. “It went better and easier than we imagined,” Kinsey said, recounting the ease of use for students, and ease of options teachers had in controlling student-used iPads from the master device. The district also found the Apple tablets superior…
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