Parents talk about Huntsville schools' digital switch - WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL

Parents talk about Huntsville schools' digital switch

Posted: Updated:
By Shumuriel Ratliff - bio | email
The school board approved the plan for Huntsville City Schools to go to digital textbooks instead of paper books. The school board approved the plan for Huntsville City Schools to go to digital textbooks instead of paper books.
HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) -

Huntsville City Schools are going digital. The school board approved the plan Thursday night, which means many students will get laptops instead of books.

Huntsville's superintendent, Dr. Casey Wardynski, called the vote to go digital a journey to a new frontier in education.

School leaders said every student in Huntsville will receive a laptop to make the transition easy.

Education services company Pearson Education presented the digital plan.

With the approved proposal, Huntsville City Schools will be one of the largest school systems to go digital district wide to improve student achievement. 

All students in grades 4 through 12 will get the laptops, so students won't have to carry heavy loads of books.

The digital plan also cuts the cost of replacing lost or damaged paper books.

Some parents met the approval with mixed reactions. 

Sharron Cole has a daughter in the 9th grade.  She said the digital switch is a sign of the times. 

"This way I don't have to worry about my son or daughter carrying six or seven books.  All I have to worry about is a little E-book," Cole said.

Mollie Pline is worried for what the computers could mean for parents financially.

"As far as the expenses, what would happen if the computer is lost or stolen or damaged?" Pline asked. 

Wardynski said the computers will save money in the long run and they have a plan in place for such emergencies.

"If a computer is damaged, just like last time, we have a user fee," Wardynski said.  "That'll probably be about $30 per student, child.   That builds an insurance pool for the district where we can replace computers that are broken."  

School officials said going digital will cost a little over $3-million the first year.

That's compared to the $5-million that Wardynski said it costs for paper books each year.  The school system will also have programs installed on the computers to keep kids from going to sites they shouldn't.

 Copyright 2012 WAFF. All rights reserved.