And Janesville has a larger tax base. It's the same they have less students and less property owners.

People can make excuses but Janesville has always been behind the times because so many wanted to work the gravy train (ie. GM). No wonder rock county has the lowest amount of 4 year college students in the entire state by percentage.

Janesville is making investments into iPads....not sure about every school and certainly not every student but they have them at our elementary....also Parview 7-12 student count is quite small versus the Janesville head count...

n00b: Actually I do many long reports on my iPad, because i invested in the bluetooth keyboard which makes it no problems writing long reports or anything else.

As far as the infrastructure, you don't HAVE to have wireless for the iPads to work, just so they can update and download new stuff or surf the internet. I would suggest the students at school not be able to get online with them, but the administrators can to update and download the newest software needed only. Again as far as what they do with it, the parents sign waivers to be responsible for damages, just like book damages. Also, you can "lock down" these devices very easily and give the user only certain access to settings, apps, even time of day of use. Apple makes it very easy for parents or IT people to control anything for the end user.

Again way to think forward instead of complaining. It is forward thinking and the initial costs will pay for themselves, when you consider you wouldn't need libraries anymore, or bookshelves, book rooms, people to order and manage the textbooks, or even computer labs. This can save lots of money in other areas of current budgets. Again Janesville would be wise to look at doing this district wide and in the new world of school choice and state dollars tied to that, why not try to make parents/students want to join a district knowing they get an iPad??

I think the issue here is being clouded by many people being contrary! There is a HUGE difference between investing in technology which I am all for and investing in THE MOST EXPENSIVE technology on the planet! Computer technology is one of the most important additions to the school curriculum we can make BUT Apple is 80% status symbol and 20% technological content. Tablet technology is a really great thing for browsing the internet, reading web based email and running server based APPS however just because I can check the weather, Shop for products play angry birds and facebook to my hearts content what is that teaching our children about technology needed in business today or tomorrow?
Some real numbers
Licensing the IOS and education app bundle
100 users = $2999.00 Per YEAR
500 users = $13999.00 Per YEAR
Includes
Ilife
IPhoto photograph editing software
IMovie movie editing software
GarageBand Music editing and mixing
Iwork
Apples Office productivity Suite
See here : http://www.zdnet.com/business-users-losi...
So the centerpiece of this technology initiative is going to be making the very best YouTube videos and photo processing or creating my very own audio production mix.
And the business productivity education they will gain will be in a software environment that has a very shaky future today and will most likely never see widespread use in any business.
The Ipad is simply a device to access APPS that Apple sells through their many different online entities and is the tether to Apples cash cow, Subscription based sales! Apple could give away the hardware because their money to be made is in the licensing and subscriptions.
New and Flashy is not the answer! having people with UNDERSTANDING of what is needed and applying technological solutions that will train our children in WHAT they will need when they leave school IS?
Remember when the education system told EVERYONE they needed a masters degree to be prepared for the new economy? Well how's that working out today? We have hundreds of thousands of people trained in "Business management" carrying 20,30 or 40 thousand dollars worth of student debt and working 3 jobs at minimum wage living in moms basement. And manufacturing employers screaming at the top of their collective lungs for welders, machinists, machine operators and painters.

And FYI they did buy computers for us at school because they didn't have them..they made the investment to teach us how to use them...and not the investment in computers is mute...technology is close to surpassing a standard computer...on to the next...

From my post...." I do not think every kid in 7th grade needs one...I think a classroom with them is awesome and for them to use and expand on their education by USING technology.." Jcommon...Get my drift....I said the same thing...just as I said I went to a class that had computers for us to learn on....no where did I say someone bought one for me, nor do I think every child should have one....and I do not think the program will be set up for them to take home, travel with or become their personal property. That would be the first I have ever seen that way....

spedbmp,
Did your school buy a computer for you? Probably not, you had to use one that was already there. And amazingly, you can probably use an IPAD just fine even though you never had one in school. The point is, if they need personal IPADS, then pay for it out of their pocket. If the school want's to have a class about it, then pay for 30-40 and leave them in the classroom. Get my drift.

Jcommon...I am not referring to other nations...right here in USA most districts have access to technology of some kind including iPads...smart boards and Raz-kids (online school access for reading and many others) I do not think every kid in 7th grade needs one...I think a classroom with them is awesome and for them to use and expand on their education by USING technology...remember when computers became common...I do and I remember taking classes to learn how to use them and expand my knowledge...our school had them also in 7th grade and wow...now that I think of it I attended Parkview at that time-irony...how dare they teach me such entitlement...I work hard now, as does my husband...we did buy various forms of technology with our hard earned cash...and you know what we even go outside to play and make our young children earn some spare change through chores...good old fashion lifestyle here but not nieve to the future ahead of us too...my 1st grader can use most forms of smartphones, laptops, computers, iPad and her own personal Nabi...all of which is offered with time limitations and age appropriate content....but you know what, she can also scoop dog poop, change cat litter, help trim goat hooves, sled, ride a bike, swim, make up games, read real books etc....the entitlement theory is lame....that is a parent taught behavior that I am not participating in...holding progressive education back will cripple our children ... And do some research on other nations....we are behind to many country and the education they receive...our dropout rate in the US is the same as 50 years ago...our college success rate is not equal to many places...govt handouts are encouraging the entitlement mentality in plenty of ways outside of our schools...lets debate that, not our children's education...

I hope Janesville can look forward like Parkview and not keep its head in the sand like some posters here want. The mentality of the past is better is getting very old.

Spedbmp25, I agree they may fall behind and it is good to stay up on technology but rolling out this much of expansive plan isn't wise in a district already strapped, but tell that to the fools that think the money is an endless stream. I will sit back and wait to see how this plays out, hopefully someone with an ounce of common sense and the ability to add and subtract will revise this plan to avoid the damage.

justoneof, learn math. Spending money you don't have doesn't work, I can expand on that 'complicated' concept if you like.

So,due to the fact that kids don't have Ipads, they are now falling behind other nations? What a fantasy world most of you live in. If you want your child to have access to IPADS, then BUY them one with your hard earned cash, not with other people's money. Reading, Writing and arithmetic, are taught in school anything extra should be bought by the parents of said child. Have a class for Ipads, but don't give out IPADs to every kid from 7th to 12th grade. This just causes more entitlement mentality. Kids think they need and entitled to an IPAD once they get into 7th grade. You are causing this.

I know times are tough and making spending decisions are even more difficult but many schools are already using iPads and other ways to advance their students with technology...schools without access to this will start to fall behind....some district are using other ways with computers to educate students using programs to encourage reading, listening, test taking, math etc...I believe nothing will replace my time with my children for actual reading, homework time, and actual outside playtime....but in today's world, it is moving in that direction and to see my 1st grader use laptops, iPads, computers programs is awesome...Parents need to manage time in front of all technology, TV...I am sure Parview can learn and advance on how to use, keep safe, and maintain the iPads just like all of the other hundreds of districts already doing this...they aren't the first...

BLUH.. BLUH..BLUH...
the school boards have cut ,, cut ,, and cut.. until something is done about the always raising cost of health care and health insurance alot small school districts are in trouble. but of course you dont see or dont know that. all you see is that they want to spend more money. learn the facts..

keep telling yourself all that fluff, glad i won't be on the hook for it. As I said there are ways to accomplish the same things without rolling it out to EVERY kid. But its not their money so they don't care instead they get the warm and fuzzies from the people that blindly follow along with images of futuristic schools.

eagle 1.. but different from you i care what our kids are leaning in schools today. as a nation our kids are falling behind because nobody thinks that we need to keep up with the rest of the world. i think we should be getting our kids all the help that we can give them to try to keep pace with the rest of the world. but it is people like you and alot of the rest of the people in this blog that all they see is parkview want to borrow money to buy play things for the kids,. get your heads out of the clouds.
this is another tool to use for our kids to get the best education that they can get. you can and will get the most updated info to help the kids learn more and to help get them ready to take on the rest of the world.
so if you want to sit in your house and complain go ahead and do that but our kids are falling behind the rest of the world. we are a nation that has prided its self on leading but with people like alot of you that can not see outside of your little world, we are not leading any more. we will keep falling behind because of it.
do what is right help the kida

justoneof, you are right I don't care, you should be concerned with a district that is spending money they admittedly don't have when there are other ways to accomplish the same goals, but like usual people sit on their hands and get all warm and fuzzy with these type of proposals without looking at the long term consequences of those programs. At what point do any of these genius school board members or teachers go out and find experts in these industries that can develop programs at an economical cost? They are no different than the clowns in government they think there is an endless supply of money so they just keep going. So yes justoneof you are right people do sit on their hands and don't speak up, I think you found one in a mirror. Enjoy your iPads that will be obsolete long before the 3rd phase of their plan is implemented and the district will be looking to update at even more added costs.

It bothers other surrounding communities because other school boards follow the trend. I don't want my school district doing any such thing like borrow money to buy Ipads.

@justoneof -- where is this misinformation of which you speak? I see well thought out and informative opinions in most of these comments.

@username -- "they need to get out and play" - with that, I TOTALLY AGREE!

to eagle 1, then why should it bother you if the parkview district wants to give the kids all of the advantage of the world around them. the world is changing so fast that if you are not part of the change then you are falling behind. once again people want to sit and bad mouth any change that people try to make and spread misinformation but will not come to a meeting to find out the detail.
so if janesville decided to make this change would you go to a meeting then or just sit in your easy chair and keep talking about things that you have no info about. because when you went to school you didnt need a computer to do school work so why do they need them now.

WHY? Is everyone too STUPID to live without technology?

justoneof, I don't live in Orfordville, good lord Janesville is bad enough and I was smart enough not to have kids, and if I did they wouldn't be in public school, so no real reason for me to go out to Hooterville or any reason for the board to listen to me, I was just posting some obvious questions about a program that is being proposed that will cost a large sum of money by a board that admits they have no money to pay for it. So I guess you are right we who are questioning this move are the ones with the problem,

then maybe all of you people should have come to the board meeting so that the board could have informed all of you about all of this information. BUT NO YOU WOULD NOT DO THAT. it is easier for you to talk about stuff you know nothing about and then you can try to spread misinformation. try getting the facts before you start your fingers talking about things you have no idea what you are talking about.

is it necessary to have all kids get an iPad, why not have a set that kids use when needed? Also what are these going to be used for in that they need to have iPads not other tablets, or laptops. There are specific functionals tablets offer but I am not sure the district has presented enough to show why these are needed especially on a wide scale. Keep in mind they will need to make sure the wireless network can handle the increased traffic, what will that cost?

“We’re talking about doing this with a deficit, and that’s a hard thing to do and to try and justify,”

You really can't justify that especially when they are planning on rolling it out with the broad approach they have chosen. Oh yeah how do they plan on preventing these iPads from being used for non-school related activities off the schools network, keep in mind most kids know how to get around being detected.

There are A LOT of hidden costs here that many of you touched on; infrastructure is the biggest if they're not ready for it--with wireless access required everywhere they want to use them. Along with that, Internet, intranet bandwidth will likely need to be increased, Ipad compatible wireless printers put in strategic locations, an ipad/IOS device control/management solution like JAMF's Casper in place ahead of time, not to mention purchasing software, standardizing software, training staff to use them effectively and students to use them responsibly, insurance against damage, loss, etc. I own both PC and MAC tech and as far as the Ipad, I LOVE mine for what it is, but they are NOT the end-all be-all of technology. They are a web browser and a TOY until the educational field, especially ALL textbook publishers adopt them, enhance their textbooks with sound/graphics/videos, offer timely updates AND lower their prices accordingly for electronic versions of their textbooks. There would be a monetary/educational reason to buy ipads or other tablet tech. over textbooks. Only THEN do I see them being USEFUL in the classroom (as a replacement for textbooks) and anything else is fluff and "gravy" for elementary especially --kids are excited by them to PLAY with and IPAD is such an educational buzzword; I think these districts going crazy with Ipad implementations would be better suited to spend the money on staff and traditional materials they also can no longer afford. If they go ahead, they should also budget for decent compatible keyboards, as it IS difficult to write any kind of report, etc. with a touchscreen. Plan to LOSE a lot of charging cables and plugs. They also need to plan and purchase charging stations. It's fine to plug one or two into an outlet, but you cannot plug 25 or 30 into an outlet or strip without using a trickle charger like those from Spectrum or Griffin and those aren't cheap either! Lots that I hope they think about ahead of this implementation...luckily other school districts HAVE gone forward with implementing them; maybe they will learn from others mistakes.

MacDaddy,
Let me start by saying I have owned every Ipad out since the initial rollout.
I agree you can add all of these apps to an Apple device however would you like to write a book report or quarterly sales analysis on a touch screen?
What about when you leave the school environment and actually enter the workforce where Linux or Microsoft business applications dominate the workplace? Have you ever tried to edit or create an AutoCAD drawing on your Ipad?
Granted if I am a salesman I can run my canned presentation but so far as actually doing work like the majority of knowledge workers engage in the Ipad is not going to fill the bill.
This is one of the HUGE problems we have in our current educational systems today is students are not being trained in a manner that translates to actual work place requirements. Yes this fits some budgetary requirements and everybody wants an Ipad but is it really what a student needs to move seamlessly into the workplace of today as a production ready asset or just more misguided flash bang initiatives so people can say we have IPADS we are really on the leading edge?

n00b - I completely agree with you. I didn't see any discussion about recurring costs and upgrade costs for infrastructure in the schools. Installing a wireless system in a school that size could cost easily another $250k in order for access speeds to be consistent throughout. I'm not saying the move is right or wrong, as technology in schools is vitaly important, but the future costs of this implementation need to be considered as well as the up-front costs.
*
This district has done nothing but complain about a lack of money, so to enter into a project with a cost this high without proper research on long-term costs would be foolish.

Actually all I see is the original procurement cost being discussed and not a lot of discussion about the cost of app development or software and infrastructure development.
Do you have educational apps already developed?
Do you have wireless infrastructure in place to update or add content to these devices?
Are you going to give each student a 3G or 4G Cell account?
How do you "lock down" an Ipad so it cannot be trashed by a student loading games or non educational content?
Who will cover the cost of a broken screen or battery that goes bad?
There are lots of questions that go well beyond the initial purchase cost that are the real ongoing total cost of implementing this as a classroom solution. If all you are doing is using them as a reader then there are LOTS of ereaders out there that are 1/4 the cost of these devices.

arnard: you can use excel, word, cad and many programs on an iPad. this is a great tool and there are so many great apps out there, many which are free. Also having a flash memory system means that if it is jostled a little bit the hard drive doesn't crash.

Students would be much more excited by these and being able to touch and get response is fantastic for special needs students or those with language barriers.

Great plan and I wish JSD was as forward thinking.

I never owned an Apple product but I have used them and I have to admit that they are user friendly and are very well made. The cheap laptops, not so much. The Ipad is also well suited for replacing textbooks as a reader, while you can read on a laptop, its not the best alternative.

I totally understand the idea of a 1 to 1 technology initiative. The only question I have is why an iPad? You can get a pretty amazing laptop for $400 a pop bought in bulk. As amazing as the Apple platform and apps are there are a lot of uses where a 1 to 1 is ideal that an iPad will be woefully inadequate (think excel, word, CAD software, CNC toolpathing etc.)

Great move.