The Hamilton Southeastern School Board debated what to with the computer device used at the high school level Wednesday night, and finally settled on a $150 annual rental fee for 13-inch Macbook Air devices.  High school freshmen at both buildings will begin using this device at this price beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, starting in August.

The school corporation will subsidize the rental cost to families.  Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology for the HSE Schools, told board members the annual fee would need to be $186 per year for the school district to cover the full cost.  Board members voted to subsidize the difference by dipping into the 10-year bond aimed at maintaining and renovating school buildings.

Harrison says the cost of each Macbook Air device to the school corporation is $699, plus $45 each for a protective case.  The $150 per year fee will cover the cost of the  protective case.

After a lengthy discussion on how to move forward on the proposal, the original motion called for a $125 per year fee to families for the device, but that motion was amended to change the annual device fee to $150.  The final vote on the fee was 6-1.

Harrison told the board HSE administrators recommended the Macbook Air because a majority of teachers self selected the Macbook and he listed several technical reasons it would work best compared to other options.

The school corporation has been using iPads, charging a fee of $90 per year.  Because high school freshmen will begin using the Macbook Air next school year, the Macbook will be slowly replacing the iPad devices at the high school  level.