By Dana Dean
St. Louis (KSDK) -- Times are changing in many classrooms across the country. There's now a push to replace textbooks with technology.
This morning, we're highlighting two schools in our area participating in what's called the "1 to 1 program." 1:1 means every student is provided with a take home iPad or a laptop.
In December, Carondelet Leadership Academy gave 106 of their elementary school students iPads. It was part of a $91,000 technology-based grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The students use the iPads in class and at home. The principal says the school got the iPads with the goal of eventually replacing textbooks. The principal says they'll have to find money in their general budget to keep purchasing iPads as they get more students.
As far as any bumps in the road, they had to upgrade their WiFi system when adding those 106 iPads.
But what about online safety?
"We have safeguards on every iPad that we know where that iPad went if they did break through a firewall," said Patrice Coffin, the principal of Carondelet Leadership Academy. "We know if they've misused the iPad."
Trimpe Middle School in Bethalto, Illinois spent three quarters of a million dollars getting each student equipped with a take home laptop. The superintendent says the costs are enormous, but the benefits far exceed the cost. The video you're looking at now is not of a computer lab, but your typical classroom at the school. The district also just rolled out the 1:1 program at its high school. The goal is to eventually replace paper textbooks with digital versions.
While safeguards are in place, officials say parents make the best web filter when the computers are at home. They say the biggest hurdle has been the constant need for more bandwidth.
"Bandwidth. It's expensive. Everyone at home, you know it costs more to get bigger speeds. Well, you multiply that by our district, which is about 2,600 kids," said Jay Stemmley the director of technology.
The 1:1 program is a grass roots effort that started in Maine.
KSDK