Glastonbury High School Students to Recieve iPads

Starting next year, students at Glastonbury High School will receive iPads from the school district after the Board of Education unanimously approved a new technology plan at a meeting Monday night.

The recently approved technology plan will give an iPad to all sophomores and incoming freshmen at GHS beginning in the 2013/14 school year. Teachers will begin receiving iPads next month, and will participate in professional development sessions during the rest of the school year to prepare to implement the new technology, school officials said.

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The cost to launch the program is expected at $419,000, with each additional freshmen class costing approximately $210,000 to outfit with a new iPad, Superintendent Alan Bookman said.

However, Bookman said the new technology would allow the high school to phase out textbooks in the future, and significantly reduce the number of desktop, student-accessible computers the school needed. He said the district would save more than $100,000 a year in textbook costs.

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