Shorecrest Students Will Receive iPads Next School Year

As Shorecrest's MacBook laptop program comes to an end, new iPads will be introduced next year after Monday night's unanimous vote by the School Board to do so.

District technology director Jim Golubich said the pilot program has worked at Shorewood and upon prompting from Superintendent Sue Walker, pointed out that the price has come down significantly.

The cost of the Shorewood program, which included 1,600 iPads, was about $1 million but the total cost for 1,500 iPads, cases, software and other equipment for Shorecrest will be only $803,988 minus $58,500 after student fees are collected.

That's because the new iPads will cost $100 or 20 percent less than the Shorewood iPads and software is at a 30 percent discount as prices for the technology comes down for the district.

Out of the 1,600 iPads distributed at Shorewood only 30 needed repair or replacement, Golubich said. iPad theft has occured but insurance is included as part of the fee paid by the families at the beginning of the year. 

These iPads are at least $600 less than MacBooks and that is the major reason why the switch is being made.

Still, the iPad devices still serve many educational purposes such as downloading textbooks and the like. 

The district's 2010 technology levy is the source for the iPad expenditure. 

At the start of this school year, the Shoreline School District was one of about 600 districts nationally that rolled out iPads in its schools. Shoreline's rollout was one of the most extensive.