News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County teachers will be getting new MacBooks thanks to a new lease agreement for some 1,000 units.
The total price tag of the lease, some $1.672 million over four years. School System Technology Department Supervisor Johnny Sloan said it is time.
“In the end, it will be a really nice upgrade,” Sloan said. “I know teacher’s current devices, I mean they’re laptops, so batteries, the life span of the battery have reached a point where they aren’t getting a lot of charge out of those ones. The new one will be a really nice upgrade for them.”
Sloan said at the end of the lease the school purchases the older laptops and refurbish them and use them for other purposes. He said the schools always have a need for more computers.
“We can repurpose the current ones and recycle some older equipment that’s in use in the district,” Sloan said. “It’s a continuous process to keep more up to date and more modern equipment that can still accept software updates. It’s a good way to refresh with new equipment and at the same time let us plan to deactivate and take out of service some of the legacy equipment that’s really getting some age one it.”
Putnam County Commissioners approved the lease agreement this week. Sloan said he expects the new technology to be in teacher hands by late October. Teachers will use the MacBooks to keep up with grades, finding instructional resources, student communication, and more.
“So much of everything in their day-to-day job is embedded in technology,” Sloan said. “Obviously technology is embedded in everything we all do, but certainly with the teachers and administrators through the building.”
Sloan said newer textbooks come with online resources that teachers can access with the new laptops.
