ADAMS TWP — The Mars School Board has taken the first step toward a total change in learning at the high school.

The board voted Tuesday night to lease 1,150 student and 75 staff laptop computers so each student in grades nine through 12 will be assigned his own computer for next school year.

“This initiative is important because we are taking a look at how we are going to bring the school district into the 21st Century as far as technology is concerned,” said Superintendent William Pettigrew.

He said the ultimate plan is for the district eventually to go completely paperless, with all textbooks, writing projects, communications and instruction done on the computers.

The cost for the computers is not to exceed $280,000 per year. Pettigrew said the district would enter into a three-year lease agreement with Lenova Financial Services, which will provide the district with the computers and software.

“It’s a wholesale change from what we’re currently doing, and we feel it’s a change for the better,” Pettigrew said.