Incoming freshmen at Snake River High School getting Chromebooks

As the school year gets closer, a local high school will have some changes for its students.

Snake River High School in Blackfoot is giving Chromebooks to its incoming freshmen. What makes it even better is that the students will get to keep them. It’s all part of the Snake River School District 1:1 initiative.

The district has 118 incoming freshmen, but the superintendent, Dave Kerns, said the district will have 130 Chromebooks in case of additional students.

They are HP Chromebooks and are the latest model. They have 11-inch screens, a protective cover and all the necessary programs for school.

“They won’t play a lot of the games,” said Steve Schellenberg, technology director. “They’re not gaming machines. But they’re more than adequate for the purpose of doing homework or assignments.”

That’s exactly what students will be able to use them for. They can be used in the classroom or at home. Documents and assignments can be submitted online by the students. Kerns said this could even eliminate paper assignments, if teachers choose to do so.

Kerns said the district has been using Chromebooks, they just have not been able to provide them on an individual basis.

“We spent the last four years purchasing devices for each building,” Kerns said. “So we now have one-to-one [ratio] from grades two through eighth but that’s in the classroom only. This will be different in the sense that it will go home with the student and it will be theirs to keep.”

Even when the students graduate, they are theirs to keep. Kerns said the district has been working on getting this for years. Now, thanks to technology grants and state funding, they were finally able to make it happen. The cost is about $25,000 to $30,000.

Kerns said as education becomes more and more reliant on technology, these Chromebooks are invaluable.

“It really levels the playing field in their learning,” he said. “The focus is on learning, not necessarily the device itself but to help the kids learn and to be able to progress in their digital learning. Today’s students are digital natives, and they need that opportunity to be able to use their device throughout their course work.”

“I’m just as excited to get this thing rolling and seeing how this is going to work,” Schellenberg said.

Schellenberg added that if a student was to damage or lose their Chromebook, the district could repair and replace it. But he said the district is still working out the details on how that cost would be covered and who would cover it.

Parents are invited to come when the Chromebooks are handed out. They will be handed out Monday, Aug. 14 from 8 a.m. to noon at Snake River High School. Anyone who can’t make that time can come Wed, Aug. 16 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., also at the high school.