Tracy Vitale

Seneca Valley is expanding its One-to-One program to grades five to eight next school year by providing each student with a computer.

The district will get each student a two-in-one Windows computer with a touch-screen and keyboard in grades five to eight for the 2017-18 school year and grades nine to 12 in the 2018-19 school year, officials said at a recent school board meeting.

“The pace of technology is only speeding up. If you stand still, you’ll fall behind,” said Sean Van-Scoyoc, district information technology director. “One-to-One is about providing access to all students, and we’re excited about keeping it rolling forward.”

The cost for the devices, which are about $300 each, for grades five to eight will be about $689,700. There are currently 2,299 students enrolled in grades five to eight at Seneca Valley.

Superintendent Tracy Vitale said all but $180,000 is being reallocated from the technology budget to cover the devices in the 2017-18 school year. The remaining $180,000 is new money that has already been added to the proposed 2017-18 budget.

The cost for 2018-19 devices for grades nine to 12 is unknown as costs fluctuate year to year, said Linda Andreassi, district communications director.

The district is in a good place to expand its One-to-One initiative as it has always put an emphasis on technology as a tool to enhance learning, Vitale said.

“It’s not about devices, it’s not about the technology,” said Vitale. It’s about using technology to leverage learning.”

The move to One-to-One, which references the ratio of technological devices to students, has been slow but steady. With each technology refresh the district has been gradually moving away from replacing desktop computers and moving toward buying mobile devices instead.

In 2011, the district had 1,858 desktop computers for student use. Now there are 978, a decrease of about 50 percent, Van-Scoyoc said. On the other hand, in 2011 the district had 738 laptops and now there are 3,579.

Grades kindergarten to second received classroom sets of Kindle Fire devices in November, and students in grades three and four received two-in-one Windows devices in February. The One-to-One rollout in the elementary grades has gone well, VanScoyoc said, with one teacher calling it one of the most transformational things to happen in her classroom.

To prepare for the additional devices on the network in the coming year, the district increased bandwidth, updated the firewall and added additional wireless access points in the high schools and middle schools, Van-Scoyoc said.

Students in grades five to 12 will be able to take their devices home if they buy an insurance policy protecting the device. As with the activity fee, students who participate in the free and reduced lunch program will have the fee waived.

The school district adopted a number of new textbooks in the past few years, and has gotten online and digital licenses where possible. The goal is to go fully electronic when textbook technology becomes better, school officials said.

The expanded One-to-One program will not replace the district’s Bring Your Own Technology program that allows students to use personal smart phones, tablets and laptops in class, VanScoyoc said.