Urbandale School District Spends $453,000 on New Laptops for Students

The Urbandale school district will spend $453,000 to equip middle and high school students with laptops following a decision at the board's Monday night meeting.

More than 800 new computers will be distributed in Urbandale schools for student and teacher use, the Des Moines Register reports. The purchase includes 60 new Chromebooks for each of the district’s six elementary schools, and Urbandale High School and the middle school will the remaining 120 of the devices.

Money for the purchase is coming from the district’s capital budget, which include sales tax and physical plant and equipment levy funds, the article said.

The recommendation to purchase new laptops came from the district's new  new technology steering committee, the Register reported. Having a variety of different devices will give teachers a number of options on how to integrate technology into their teaching, district manager of information systems told the newspaper.