Fifth-grade through eighth-grade students in Monroe Public Schools will find something new in their book bags each night when they go home from school next school year – a Dell Chromebook which is theirs to use at school during the day and take home at night.

     This “24/7 one-to-one initiative” -- which has been piloted for several years in Monroe Public Schools – will supply the Chromebooks to some 1,900 students and staff in all five of Monroe’s elementary schools and Monroe Middle School.  Importantly, there will be no cost to the students’ families for the devices or for insurance.

     “Over the past few years, we have had multiple one-to-one classrooms and students in those classrooms have been thriving,” said Julie Everly, deputy superintendent, Monroe Public Schools.  “The teachers and students in these classrooms have crafted a 21st century vision of learning that has grown and has been highly requested by others. 

     “Teacher leaders and administrators have worked hard on the initiative to bring us to this next very exciting step – extending these learning experiences far outside of the school day and the walls of our school buildings.” The rollout of this initiative also will have another benefit, this one at Monroe High School.  Since Monroe Middle School students will have their own Chromebooks next school year, 14 carts of Chromebooks which were used this school year at MMS, will be transferred to MHS, increasing by 50 percent the number of Chromebooks available to MHS students during the school day.

     The Monroe Public Schools Board of Education recently approved the purchase of 2,100 Dell Chromebooks and protective shells, the corresponding Google Management and GoGuardian licenses, and 200 power adapters. 

     “Getting 1,900 Chromebooks in the hands of students at the beginning of the school year and making sure everyone is properly trained, including our staff, are significant undertakings, but this is a major stride forward in learning for our children,” said David Payne, director, Technology, for Monroe Public Schools. 

     “This is just our first year of doing this on this scale.  Our plans are to include the incoming fifth graders every year after this which expands the number of grades having the Chromebooks each year of the program.  Ultimately, all fifth grade through high school students in Monroe Public Schools will have their own Chromebooks in school and at home,” Mr. Payne added.

     Mr. Payne said that the purchase is paid for with a combination of funds from state money and the county’s Technology millage which last month was renewed by county voters for five years.

     While the students will be able to use the Chromebooks individually for research and study in their classrooms and at home, teachers also will have the ability in class to change all of the screens in that classroom to the same lesson using a program called GoGuardian.

     As part of preparing for the “24-7 one-to-one initiative,” the school board also approved purchasing equipment to expand and upgrade the Monroe Public Schools Data Center. 

     “This expansion will give our students and staff the infrastructure needed to support our current and future technology demands,” Mr. Payne said. 

Included in the project are improvements to email and web filters, firewalls, network storage, phone system upgrades for all district phones, software and servers.

     Mr. Payne explained that when the phone portion of the project is complete, the system will be E911 compliant, meaning it will meet the emergency phone requirements of the new Federal law for public buildings of a certain size which goes into effect at the end of 2016.  With the new system, if someone in a classroom dials 9-1-1, the building’s top administrator is notified immediately, so in-building actions can take place quickly.

     “We cannot thank county voters enough for supporting the millage which helps us put the hardware and software in place to help our students succeed,” Mr. Payne said.
     “Thanks to the collective efforts of our community technology millage and our staff, our Monroe students will experience learning in way that no generation before them ever has,” Mrs. Everly said.