Galesburg District 205 will stop assigning individual Chromebooks to students in grades two through eight beginning next school year as part of a broader shift in how classroom technology is used in the district.
“We are really taking a very concerted look at technology use in all of our grade levels, as we've seen some negative impacts towards learning and growth of students due to the tremendous amount of screen time that really developed during COVID,” Jennifer Hamm, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, told the school board.
Hamm said the district is not getting rid of technology in general, nor is it getting rid of technology to support learning.
“We're just being very thoughtful about how much screen time our students are engaged in,” she said.
Instead of the district assigning Chromebooks to each student, the devices will be stored in shared carts in classrooms and libraries and checked out when instruction requires them.
As the district shifts the use of Chromebooks, it is also replacing aging devices for grades two through 12. That’s after staff surveys conducted earlier this year revealed widespread hardware problems.
“Those devices were approaching end-of-life cycles, which had typically been four years for Google devices,” Hamm said.
The board approved spending roughly $1.2 million on new student Chromebooks, along with around $263,000 for staff laptops, which will be paid for with a combination of district technology funds and federal grants. The newer Chromebook models are expected to remain supported for up to a decade.
Even as the district plans to scale back how often younger students use Chromebooks, schools must maintain enough devices for students to complete standardized testing, which federal rules require to be administered online.
Superintendent John Asplund said he believes it’s a bad idea for students to take the tests that way. He told the board he contacted the state superintendent directly about returning to paper exams, and was told districts must continue to administer the tests online.
“You’re basically testing a kid’s technology savviness in addition to their knowledge of English or science or math,” Asplund said.
He said online testing is easier for testing companies because they don’t have to pay readers.
“This is not a benefit to kids at all. It's a detriment to kids and it's increasing the profit margins for companies that are making plenty of money,” Asplund said.
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