Bloomingdale Schools give a netbook to every junior

All 11th graders at Bloomingdale High School got new Samsung netbooks recently for their exclusive use for rest of the semester, along with three weeks of free Verizon 3G internet service, reports MLive.com.

The netbooks belong to the school, but the students can take them home and treat them as their own. After the 3G service ends, juniors will still have access to the school’s wireless Internet. There are 100 juniors testing the pilot project.

Excerpt:

If all goes as planned, every Bloomingdale student in grades 6-12 will get a netbook and free 3G internet service for the 2011-12 school year.

The cost of the pilot project is about $14,000 and is coming from a grant and the district’s general fund. Expanding it to the 650 students in grades 6-12 would cost an estimated $50,000 to $80,000, and Superintendent Deb Paquette and her staff are writing grants to cover some of the expense.

To fnd out why the school district is taking this measure, read the rest of the story.

Source: MLive.com