(Editor’s Note: This article was posted on April 1st as an April Fools joke. Since it is still being shared post-April 1st, we want to make sure that everyone knows this was a joke.)

On March 22nd the school board officially voted to require all high school and middle school students to bring their own laptop to use in the classroom. If students are unable to afford a personal laptop Mike Bell, Fair Grove’s Superintendent, explained, “The school will initially provide the student a laptop, but the student will be required to fundraise to cover the cost.”

The school will be selling all the chromebooks and computers in the high school and middle school at a discounted price to students as well.

There are many advantages to students having a personal laptop to take from school to home. Students will have access to any assignments on Google classroom. Mrs. Brannock, who is an science teacher in the high school commented, “I use google classroom in my class frequently. Students who don’t have access to a computer at home will now be able to work on assignments at home as well.”

Another plus is that now it’s more convenient for teachers to share notes with their students through google drive. Now students won’t have to write and listen, they can pay more attention to what is being taught than trying to rush to write everything down fast enough.

For some families buying a laptop for their student won’t be easy especially if they have multiple students in high school and middle school. The school will sell chromebooks to students at a discounted price and give the raised money towards buying new desks for the classrooms. If students still can’t afford a laptop there will be multiple opportunities for students to raise money. Once they pay off the laptop it’s theirs to keep after high school which is another positive. Current junior Taylor Essary is excited for the change, she said, “Now I will already have a laptop for when I go to college next year.”

After a year the school will evaluate to see how beneficial it was and if the change was worth it. They will then decide whether or not to continue requiring students to bring their own laptop to school.