Another round of laptops for teachers

The Glendale Unified school district is gearing up to spend about $760,000 on computers for more than 650 educators in the last phase of a major initiative to equip teachers with laptops using funds from the $270-million Measure S bond that voters passed in 2011.

About 700 teachers have received new Mac and PC laptops since 2012, when the school district began rolling them out to teachers.

As of mid-September, teachers had requested more than 660 laptops at Hoover High School, Edison Elementary, Lincoln Elementary and Verdugo Woodlands Elementary.

With each educator granted the choice between a Mac or PC, the majority of them have asked for Apple Mac computers over Hewlett-Packard PCs, according to Frank Schlueter, director of educational technology for Glendale Unified.

Each MacBook Pro costs $2,055, including software and tax, while the Hewlett Packard laptops cost $1,091 each, Schlueter said.

The school board also approved purchasing 600 scanners to help teachers quickly scan forms that students use to take multiple-choice exams. Total cost for the scanners is $24,954.

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