Apple Supplying Florida Public Schools

[TomSmithMacEd]

This is great for the kids, or at least I would think it is amazing...

Sorta off topic, but it sucks that so many kids only know Mac (at least from where I am from) on revB old iMacs with OS9 on it. The only thing they think of with macs is that they are colourful and crash all the time. They never know the beauty of Mac OS X.

 

[AoWolf]

I currently go to high school in Daytona beach florida. At first I thought awe darn! wrong county. But then it hit me: I already take my iBook and use it in every class. If every one else had one I wouldn't be able to brag about my mac. Teachers would learn to recognize when I borrow the network cable from there PC's and when I was online in class. And most importuned of all flocks of ladies would not come over to see my shiny white computer. Well indeed I am being completely selfish I like being the only mac user in school.

On the other hand I think of my 1-7 grade experience in my Bellevue washington public schools. They had macs ranging from IIes for the kindergarden and 1st graders all the way up to orange iMacs for the older students. Having a mac at home I always seemed to know just enough more about them then the teachers. I have found memories of disabling the protection software so I could install Escape velocity and pirate Oregon trail. Knowing a few OS X tricks (like inverting the monitor) could be quite fun!

 

[Stella]

When I was in school I wish we would have had Macs as well, that would have been so much better! Instead, I had to deal with IBM PS/2s and good old 486s. I feel happy for those kids, they're very fortunate!

When I was at school there were only two computer rooms... ( and that wasn't *that* long ago.

 

[Raiden]

hehe...I live in richmond (used those ibooks in school for 3 years), and I guarantee you will be seeing two of those 50 dollar ibooks on ebay selling for >200 dollars. ^_^ Roor bong, here I come...hehahahaa

 

[ClarkeB]

Did you see that originally the Henrico School District had bought 25,000 ibooks?! I dont know what the going rate for them was in 2001, but if they were about 1k like today, thats 25 MILLION dollars!! I mean, I am certainly an advocator of technology in the classroom, but I doubt they got 25 million dollars worth of education out of them in 4 years. Especially since selling them at $50 each will put them at a loss of $23,750,000.00. YOUCH! additionally, I am also interested in how I can get one for $50.00??

I seriously doubt they paid face value. I'd say they paid probably around the $50 they are selling them for...which would be about $1.25 million, which seems quite reasonable.

 

[remingtonhill]

You get what you pay for!

Yep, you're gonna have to drive for these...

http://henrico.k12.va.us/ibooksale/index.html

If you get me one I'll give you $100 for it though. 🙂

Take your whole family and I'll give you $100 for each one you get me.

Trust me kids. There is a reason these $50 G3 500 iBooks are selling for this price. This is all they are worth. Remember, school kids have been using these laptops for a few years, taking them to school everyday, playing with them on the playground. Kids recieving laptops they didn't have to work to pay for don't treat them with respect.

I know this for a fact. They are worth what they are asking for them.

Oh and I agree with some above posters. I don't understand why schools are dolling out 10's of millions of dollars to give kids these "toys". (at least they can't play games on them 🙂 How about scholarship funds for low-income students. How about teacher pay. How about school facility upgrades. How about spending money to train teachers to be more effective.

Ridiculous waste of money, imho. Do schools in low income depressed areas give students laptops. All these white suburban middle class kids probably allready have multiple computers at home. Dad's with suburbans with DVD and moms with fancy BMWs dropping timmy and sally off at school with their iBooks.

Kids in the "projects" w/o such niceties like home computers get nothing.

whatever.

 

[WoofJoe]

Hope they have better luck with iBooks than I had.

Look, I love using OS X and I love my PowerMac, which I've been using everyday for over three years without a hitch, but I had nothing but problems with my iBook 800Mhz G3.

This makes me wonder if Henrico had the same problems, i.e. the logic board needing to be replaced every few months. I went through two logic boards in the first six months alone and three more after the initial warranty expired. Fortunatley, Apple eventually issued a general replacement program for pretty much all G3 iBook logic boards.

I sold my iBook on eBay just a couple of months ago (before the AppleCare expired) to a guy who intended to gut it for parts and in turn sell those parts to school districts that bought into the iBook program. My 800Mhz iBook reminded me of the awful 1996 PowerPC Performa that led me to defect to Windows for a few years until Apple got its **** together.

By the way, what is it with Apple and fried logic (mother) boards? My Performa bit the dust due to continual logic board problems, one brother's iMac 500 and another brother's iMac 600 both suffered from bad logic boards, and now it turns out my sister's iMac G5 is in the same boat. Is it overheating? That's my only guess.

Anyway, here's to my new 12-inch PowerBook living a long and healthy life!

 

[catpaladin]

just plain dumb

...

I bet the students rcvd 25M in not pulling out hair. I personally pity the VA students next year and I am glad I am not there.

This school district has to be the silliest around... misguided... uneducated, and heading for a recall of the folks who decided this. Now, they've thrown away tons of money and opened a world of headaches until they switch back to Apple. Hopefully Apple will surcharge them a dummy tax when they do. What a disservice to the pupils, teachers, and to the tax payers.

 

[840quadra]

Slightly off topic, but this was related to the primary article also.

Article linking why HCPS switched to Dell
http://www.henrico.k12.va.us/Announcements/Dell/index.htm

Input was received from hundreds of teachers, students, staff, parents and community members about the challenges with the current laptop program. Some of the comments included maintenance issues, the required fees for students and teachers, and the desire for Microsoft Office.

1. Maintenance issues will follow them onto the Dell Platform. Combining kids with Technology will require maintenance issues no matter what platform!

2. Office runs on Apple hardware as well, and as the Macintosh team at Microsoft tells the world, their products are better and more cutting edge then the software that runs on Windows systems.

Morton said price was not the only reason behind his and the committee’s recommendation. “It was a number of variables, not one single thing.” But, he added that Apple’s proposal was about $4 million more than Dell’s.

This is a valid reason to go with Dell, and I would also look at this to move away. However, they now need to spend money (hidden costs) to get prepaired to go with a Windows environment as opposed to Apple. IT costs (training), Hardware costs, and other hidden costs. Will this ammount to 4 Million, who knows?

Both Apple and Dell’s proposals contained a promise to provide 2 percent of the total number of computers to use as loaner laptops. To ensure that students have access to the technology every day, Dell said it would increase that promise to 5 percent if necessary

I hope they don't need the extra 3 percent of spares they have! Again only time will tell. Dell can afford to do this because they are so "mass produced" A nice jab at Apple Dell 🙄 .

Freeman High School Principal Dr. Ed Pruden, who was on the evaluation committee, said the switch from AppleWorks to Office will be the biggest concern for teachers. “We have a commitment from Dell to make that transition smooth,” Pruden said.

Again, office runs just fine on Apple.

Lloyd Brown, director of technology for Henrico schools, explained the features of the new Dell Inspiron 600M laptop. The screen is 14 inches compared to the iBook’s 12-inch screen. It has two USB ports and a track pad for moving the mouse. The Dells will utilize a Windows XP operating system.

OH WOW! 🙄
Perhaps they should read their own website
http://www.henrico.k12.va.us/iBook/STUDENTibooks.pdf

* Your iBooks alredy had 2 USB ports AND Firewire (which the Dells may have)
* The iBooks had a track pad
* A bigger screen is nice, but the tend to take more power, AND space which is important in cramped schools. How long is the battery life on the Dell laptops? The one I am using (to type this post) has nothing close to my iBook 600 sitting at home

Dell 600m Battery life = 3-4 hours (depending on battery)
current Apple iBook battery life = 6 Hours

Both Pruden and Tucker High School social studies teacher Meredyth Hoggatt, who was also on the evaluation committee, agreed that they were not starting over. “This is not going to be a do-over,” Hoggatt said. “It’s going to be a transition. Most of my students use a windows platform at home anyway.”

"This is not starting over" 🙄
Yeah keep thinking that, You switched platforms, hence starting over.

Students and staff in elementary and middle school will continue to utilize Apple products including the iBooks. “We have a great relationship with Apple,” Morton said. “It will be a challenge to work with both Apple and Dell, but Henrico schools has one of the best technology staffs in the country.”

For how long, until that hardware is outdated? That also a great thing to do to the younger students. When they get older they will recieve and have to learn the Dell world, after being brought up on Apple.

I am sure this Mortion guy will want to change his last name to "Motrin" after all of the headaches he gets from working with Dell!

</jaded attitude>

MW
Just commenting on what I didn't agree with

 

[berkleeboy210]

It's good to see that the public school systems all over the country are beginning to realize that Windows is bad, and are making the jump over to the Mac.

 

[jayeskreezy]

am i the only one?

Am I the only one who thinks that the ebay value of these will decrease significantly due to the 500+ that will suddenly be available simultaneously???

call me crazy, but the value may decrease to about $100 a computer which is only a $50 profit

 

[macbaseball]

Am I the only one who thinks that the ebay value of these will decrease significantly due to the 500+ that will suddenly be available simultaneously???

call me crazy, but the value may decrease to about $100 a computer which is only a $50 profit

Maybe it will decrease a little bit, but not to the $100 range. These iBooks are still going for $300-$550, which is rediculous in my opinion, but that's not the point. There is no way these iBooks will decrease 200 bucks, just because some school in Virginia is getting rid of all there Apples...

 

[jayeskreezy]

alright...i'd put money on it but im saving^^^^
they'll get to $200

 

[FaasNat]

That's because this information was already posted in this thread. 😉

So I see. I guess that's what I get for only reading the front page.....

 

[HasanDaddy]

Trust me kids. There is a reason these $50 G3 500 iBooks are selling for this price. This is all they are worth. Remember, school kids have been using these laptops for a few years, taking them to school everyday, playing with them on the playground. Kids recieving laptops they didn't have to work to pay for don't treat them with respect.

I know this for a fact. They are worth what they are asking for them.

Oh and I agree with some above posters. I don't understand why schools are dolling out 10's of millions of dollars to give kids these "toys". (at least they can't play games on them 🙂 How about scholarship funds for low-income students. How about teacher pay. How about school facility upgrades. How about spending money to train teachers to be more effective.

Ridiculous waste of money, imho. Do schools in low income depressed areas give students laptops. All these white suburban middle class kids probably allready have multiple computers at home. Dad's with suburbans with DVD and moms with fancy BMWs dropping timmy and sally off at school with their iBooks.

Kids in the "projects" w/o such niceties like home computers get nothing.

whatever.

I'm currently receiving a Master's in Teaching

Most of my fieldwork and teaching has taken place near East LA, in a school that has around an 85% Latino student population, with around 80% receiving free school lunch (which is indicative of the economic depression)

I would more than WELCOME such a program at a school like this

First off, with the limited technology that is available at this school, the children USE IT and they use it well ----- in one of my classes, I was deeply impressed with how the high school children studied for their test on The Crucible by writing a screenplay and filming a short film of it

BUT BIGGER POINT HERE -----

America's economcy, and the world economy, for that matter, is quickly becoming based upon technology ----- today, technology alienates a slew of very intelligent people from many industries

Our biggest import is computer programmers from South Asia --- and the highest paying jobs, and biggest demands from the global markets of today, are for people who have backrounds in technology

and it doesn't matter what industry ---- if you can demonstrate that you know technology and are comfortable with it, then your chances of being hired simply SKYROCKET in any field

with that said ---- if we want America to continue being the economic leader of the future, then we have NO CHOICE but to IMMERSE our children within technology AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Doing so will guarantee the upbringing of a population that is competent and ready to address the challenges of an ever growing, globalized, economy

and lastly, take a look at where tech companies and Fortune 500 companies go for HQ's ----- Silicon Valley, Boston, etc ----- all places that put a great emphasis on establishing educational services for technology, whether it be through their private universities, colleges, or high schools ---- technology growth goes where talent is being spawned

Broward County and other counties that practice such a program, will soon be MINTING MONEY on the number of companies that find them attractive, only because of the technological competence that is within their people

as a teacher myself, I welcome this and embrace it!

 

[FunkSpaceMonkey]

I'll buy an old cheap iBook off em.. 🙂

 

[AP_piano295]

Anybody want to get one for me? I'll pay an extra $50 if someone gets me one.

im serious - if you want to make a couple bucks for picking me up one, email me - aintnohalfstppn@gmail.com

I live in Charlottsville VA near henrico county and I hate to tell you but the ibook story was on every local news channel last night Ill bet even odds all the ibooks have been sold

 

[Mr.Hostility]

This is really cool of Apple to do. Securing a young market is important for their future, plus it's awesome they are helping out some kids with new computers.

 

[johnnyastro]

My wife is a teacher in the broward county school district, and while excited about this deal, she says there are lots more than 30,000 kids in the district. I wonder who will have to go without.

Just went to the broward county schools web site. Here are the facts about the population of students.

How many students attended Broward schools in 2003/04?
There were 272,691 students enrolled in Broward schools –
121,663 in elementary; 60,335 in middle; 72,758 in high; 4,354 in special centers; and
13,561 in Charter Schools. That's an increase of more than 1,300 students from the year before.

 

[JeDiBoYTJ]

coming from someone who has lived in broward county all his life, im really glad to see a REAL partnership with Apple. Broward has ALWAYS been one of the most mac-friendly school districts in the nation. when the new G3's were introduced back when I was in middle school, every school in the COUNTY (and broward is one of the largest school districts in the country), got around 50 new G3's. Then when I moved onto high school, my school bought HUNDREDS of eMacs by the BLUK. every classroom either had an iMac or an eMac (or two or three...). I did a lot of my work on an eMac (this is when i really began to love macs). only 1 or 2 classrooms in the whole school had Dull's, and those were the computer programming classes, and microsoft office classes.

Then, around the time i graduated, my school bought many dual-processer G5's with 20in displays. man do I wish I was there when they had those...... as those old iMac ad's say.... Yum!

Anyway, my brother is moving on to High School in a couple weeks here in broward county.... does this mean that he is going to get his own 'personal' iBook? it would certainly be hard to give 30,000 ibooks to every student in a school district that has well over 200,000 students.

 

[AcousticDoc]

Ridiculous waste of money, imho. Do schools in low income depressed areas give students laptops. All these white suburban middle class kids probably allready have multiple computers at home. Dad's with suburbans with DVD and moms with fancy BMWs dropping timmy and sally off at school with their iBooks.

Kids in the "projects" w/o such niceties like home computers get nothing.

The kids in the suburban middle clas deserve these notebooks more.

 

[fredericklange]

Working on this project

The kids in the suburban middle clas deserve these notebooks more.

Im working on this project for the school board of broward county. I do believe this is the greatest thing for the school board. Offering students laptops, most of them who cant afford a desktop computer at home, do homework on, or even perhaps take online courses. Who would've guessed this would ever happen? Its a great thing, and I wish I were in highschool during these times. 🙂

Take it as you will, if your school board has the money, and the technical innovators that the SBBC does, every students could soon be receiving their own laptops nationally.

The refresh progress is going well. All the one to one schools are completed and have been shipped to the schools.

Have a great weekend guys, write your school boards and start demanding things, bringing things up at school board meetings helps too.

Kindest Regards,

F. Lange

 

[fredericklange]

there's already another 4 page thread about this topic in the marketplace



no you dont....florida's public school system ranks around 48th in the nation (there's only 50 states), you dont wish you were in florida for that

------


Have you looked up where Broward County School district ranks? They're one of the largest and most funded school districts in the nation. Also one of the best in the Nation.

F. Lange

 

[fredericklange]

Even the most 'ghetto' schools are getting these laptops. Now also keep in mind, the reason there so called magnet schools is to draw the caucasion kids to these schools for special courses. Such as, nursing, communications and broadcasting arts, pre-law, etc. I was deep in the ghetto installing the dual g5 xserver w/ 1 minimum 1.6tb of drive space that are going hosting all the students files while the laptops are in school, or being submitted via email. Its not just the white kids getting these computers. Dont be biased. The rich kids in south florida goto private schools. At these schools they're required to purchase their own laptops for class.

Want to see the statistics the city of new york k-12 program spends on technology compared to the rest of the nation? Out of all the states in the WONDERFUL USA. New York's school system is broke. Meanwhile your spending almost 80 dollars on your metrocard a month to get to school, go figure.

The state of florida also just threw out 1.4billion extra towards the states school budget. There are moves being made in Florida. Everyone will follow, sooner or later.

 

[Freeþinker]

Too many misconceptions about laptops and suburban vs. urban schools

Oh and I agree with some above posters. I don't understand why schools are dolling out 10's of millions of dollars to give kids these "toys". (at least they can't play games on them How about scholarship funds for low-income students. How about teacher pay. How about school facility upgrades.

How about spending money to train teachers to be more effective.Ridiculous waste of money, imho. Do schools in low income depressed areas give students laptops. All these white suburban middle class kids probably allready have multiple computers at home. Dad's with suburbans with DVD and moms with fancy BMWs dropping timmy and sally off at school with their iBooks.

Kids in the "projects" w/o such niceties like home computers get nothing.

I teach in a suburban school system outside of Washington D.C., and I must emphasize right now--because too few people seem aware--that none of the adjacent counties' schools get the amount of money per pupil that D.C. spends. The average teacher in D.C. is also paid more than a teacher in the suburbs. In the middle school where I teach, there are only two computers in each regular classroom (****ing Dells, not Macs!), and the remaining computers are on mobile stations (five stations of 11 notebook computers for approximately 1,000 students). Many students in the suburbs may be spoiled by their parents, but the schools are run by a bunch of cheapskates who hide behind the students' high test scores (thanks to their parents' genes and education) to defend the incompetence of their IT personnel who insist not only on the entire school system running on a single platform but also on restricted teacher access off-site and on-site.

Many of my students would benefit from having an iBook for school and home. The school where I teach won't even provide any teacher with a computer, let alone every student. In fact, teachers are not even allowed to access any of the schools' wireless networks using laptops that they have purchased themselves.