Hillsborough county school district has come out with a new policy that will get rid of all desktops in classrooms and computer labs. This impacts everyone including students, teachers and the site tech.
Mr. Colangelo is Steinbrenner’s tech resource. He assists teachers with their computer problems and keeps track of the technology the school owns. For him and many others, one of the major concerns with getting rid of desktops is how standardized testing will be affected, since many of the school’s tests are computer based.
“The desktops are not viable any longer as testing devices, so we need to remove them from the testing labs that have them,” said Colangelo. “What we will use in the near term to replace those testing devices will be the laptops from the mobile carts that were used for student use during e-learning.”
Along with its effect on testing and computer labs, the policy will also impact teachers and their classrooms. This can also be an issue for students who do not have a cell phone and need a device for an assignment because laptops are not easily accessible for everyone.
“The downside is it will also remove the option for a teacher to check out a laptop cart for in class activities and further constrain access to a computer lab for non-testing purposes,” said Colangelo.
Although there are many disadvantages of getting rid of desktops, there are a few benefits.
“The devices are out of warranty and support and have been for a long time. They were purchased in early 2009 just prior to the school opening and currently have limited use and support cost that is not economically viable,” said Colangelo.
This will lessen the amount of computer issues that happen daily. Having old computers just creates more problems and more challenges for teachers and Mr. Colangelo.
Sophomore Abby Fay also shared how she thought the school would be impacted by the loss of desktops.
“The desktops usually have problems or are just very slow so this might be benefiting,” Fay said.
Overall, this new policy will have positive and negative effects on how school’s technology and devices are used.
Megan Menendez//News Editor
