The Nashville High School Board of Education met last night and they had a lengthy discussion on the 1 to 1 computer use for each student.  Superintendent Wendy Davis says the committee has been meeting every week for much of the semester and has even gone on trips to visit other schools, including Freeburg.  The proposal is to use the Chromebook computer system.  English instructor Jennifer Olsen told the Board how this would really help with projects and get everyone involved and would be faster.  Science instructor Wendy Bergmann addressed the issue of student disciplineship with their computer.  She talked about the help desk at Freeburg for those who forgot their computer of failed to charge it overnight and how those things could be covered, as well as how the students working it were very knowledgeable and professional.  She said they would need workshops for the faculty, as well as training for the students at the beginning of the school year on the Chromebooks.  Social Science instructor Michele Goostree said this will be a new way to teach and it will allow for plenty of collaborative work between the students and provide for research-based work, which will set them up for college and beyond.  It will also allow the classes to go deeper into a subject and feedback to the student on their work will be quicker, if not immediate.  Davis talked about the plan, as she said it was the committee’s opinion that this could be implemented in the Fall.  The plan would be to have Chromebooks for every freshman and sophomore next school year.  Then the following year, the juniors and seniors would get Chromebooks.  Industrial Technology instructor and administrator, Paul Welte told the Board a purchase program would be more cost effective than leasing.  Insurance on each computer could be purchased by the parent next year, but the school might be able to offer it in the future.  The Board approved the process to begin for next school year.  Registration fees were then discussed, as the book fee would be $50 and the technology fee would remain $15.  For those students using a Chromebook, there would be an additional $25, so the registration fee would be $90 for those students.  The Board approved these and all other fees for next year.  Welte then told the Board that the school needed updating on the operating system, as Windows is no longer supporting the XP system, so they needed to upgrade to Windows 7.  They will purchase 63 new computers for the administration, each classroom and the Accounting Lab.  They will take the replaced computers and move them to where they can be best used and get rid of the oldest models.  They would also purchase upgrades for all the computers in all the labs, that aren’t new, for the Windows operating system.  This will cost $40,947.32.  The school also will be upgrading the network in 3 closets, which run the data to the labs and various other computers.  This will cost $27,448.15, but it will increase the speed of data flow by 10 times what it is now, as they have been getting complaints from faculty and students.  The high school will purchase approximately 100 Chromebooks at $100 each from Nashville Grade School, as they move to a computer for each student next year also, but with a different laptop.  These Chromebooks are only a year old and originally cost $300.  NCHS will then purchase 55 more new Chromebooks for $16,920.20.  Davis said there is Lease Levy money available for this project and the Board approved an installment loan for no more than $98,000 at 3 percent interest from Nashville Savings Bank.  They plan to purchase approximately 60 more Chromebooks with R.E.A.P. Grant money.