School District Begins Rolling out iPads

The Manhattan Beach Unified School District announced during its Wednesday night board meeting that it plans to have an iPad in the hands of every Manhattan Beach Middle School student by the time school starts on August 29.

"We are committed to the fact that all MBMS students will have iPads prior to the first day of school," Carolyn Seaton, the executive director of educational services told the board.

Seaton said that distribution of iPads for parents who opted to lease or buy the devices from the school district has already begun. Approximately 158 iPads have been handed out so far and Seaton said more will be distributed next week.

During her presentation, Seaton also said that some 359 parents still have not turned in a form stating their intent to either lease or buy an iPad from the school, use one of their own iPads, or borrow one from the school district.

If a child's form is not turned in, she said it could delay that child receiving an iPad. However, Seaton said it will hopefully not be an issue by the time school starts. 

"If we have to work on the weekends and make phone calls... I hope we won't have to drive to homes... We will make every effort so that those kids can have their iPads," Seaton said. "That is our goal-- Every child at MBMS has an iPad on the first day of school in every class."

Training and Safety

In addition to rolling out the iPads before school starts, the school district said it is committed to offering iPad training classes for faculty, students and parents.

For students, Seaton said training will cover topics such as cyber safety, classroom protocol for iPads, iPad functionality, and usage of essential applications.

Seaton also said that iPad safety and prevention of theft will be emphasized as school begins and students will be instructed to carry their iPad with them at all times or lock it up at theft hot spots like PE or band classes.

In addition, all iPads will have a tracking application installed and all serial numbers will be registered with the school in case the iPad is misplaced or stolen.

For those parents still worried about their child's iPad though, Seaton said that 78 percent of parents have indicated that they are going to purchase optional $55 per year insurance for the device.

Buy, Lease, or Borrow

The implementation of the iPad program at MBMS gives parents four options for providing their child with an iPad. Options include purchasing the iPad through MBUSD, leasing one through the district, using a personal iPad or checking one out from the school. 

Of those options, the school district said Wednesday that 30 percent of parents plan to purchase the iPad through the district, 14 percent plan to lease one, 31 percent will use their own iPad and 25 percent will have their child check one out from the school.

The total cost of purchasing or leasing a 16 GB iPad 2 with Wi-fi through the school district, including all applications, a case and tax amounted to $498.56 compared to the retail price of $577.92.

Manhattan Beach Middle School iPad Training Schedule:

7th, 8th Grade Students:
August 22-23
1:30-3:30 p.m.
Manhattan Beach Middle School MPR

6th Grade Students:
Training to take place during regular humanities classes

MBMS Parents:
September 4
Session One: 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Session Two: 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Manhattan Beach Middle School MPR