'Mother of All Portable Computer Purchases' Showing Undesirable Side Effects
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
May 28, 2004
(AgapePress) - A mother in Richmond, Virginia, is raising concerns about the use of laptop computers in her son's high school. She says she is not the only parent whose worries about uncontrolled usage of the computers are being ignored by school officials.Three years ago, Henrico became the first county in the nation to purchase laptops for every secondary school student in the district. The school system signed a four-year, $24.2-million lease for the laptops as part of its vision to "close the digital divide." The purchase of 23,000 iBooks, according to manufacturer Apple, constituted the single largest sale of portable computers in education ever.
Under the school's guidelines, students pay only a minimal insurance fee that covers loss, theft, or damage to the computer, and they have the option to purchase their laptop after four years at a reduced cost.
But Sally Booth, whose son attends Godwin High, says the policy was put in place quickly and without measures to block pornography. The Virginia mom contends that instead of furthering education, the multi-million-dollar investment has led to problems with students viewing porn, hacking into grades, and cheating.
"It's just been a nightmare for our family as well as many others that I know of -- with kids downloading music, playing games while the teachers are talking and teaching, and e-mailing back and forth during class," Booth says. "And we also found out last week that my son, during his free time after lunch, viewed the brutal beheading of Nicholas Berg."
Booth wants the computers kept in a "controlled environment" like the classroom, and not allowed to be taken home or toyed with at lunchtime. And the worried parent adds that school officials are ignoring the concerns of parents who want the computer used to be more closely monitored.
"I know there have been parents who have not felt heard, who have pulled their children out of the school system due to pornography issues," she shares. "It's just put a whole other dynamic on education that, to me, principals and teachers should not have to deal with. I think it's taken away from education."
Booth says Henrico school superintendent Mark Edwards and school board chairman Stuart Myers have refused to return her phone calls.
