PA District Supports Elementary AR/VR Program with 60 iPads

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 07/25/19

A Pennsylvania school district is ramping up its device and software inventory. The school board for West Jefferson Hills School District recently approved numerous technology acquisitions, including the lease of Chromebooks and purchase of iPads.

The board approved lease of 720 Chromebooks, laptops and desktop computers from Dell for $350,527. The lease, to be handled through First American Education Finance will last 36 months, with zero-percent interest and an annual charge of $106,871.

The Apple iPads are needed for a continuing augmented and virtual reality program in the elementary grades. The idea is to add 60 iPads on two mobile carts, half for use in the media center and the other half to be moved among classrooms. The cost for that was listed in board documents as $27,837, which included $4,500 for educator professional development.

Among the other technology purchases approved were:

  • The five-year leasing and installation of projectors for the district's new Thomas Jefferson High School, for $114,310;

  • Purchase of Google Chromeboxes, compact desktop computers, for district-wide use, priced at $19,397 from Bit Direct;

  • District-wide network firewall hardware and services from Dell for $16,338; and

  • Purchase of video display monitors from CDW-G (up to $110,353) and COSTARS ($16,224).

As a sign of the times, the board also approved donation of chalk no longer needed by the high school to local non-profits.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • robot typing on a computer

    Microsoft Unveils 'Computer Use' Automation in Copilot Studio

    Microsoft has announced a new AI-powered feature called "computer use" for its Copilot Studio platform that allows agents to directly interact with Web sites and desktop applications using simulated mouse clicks, menu selections and text inputs.

  • AI microchip under cybersecurity attack, surrounded by symbols of threats like a skull, spider, lock, and warning shield

    Report Finds Agentic AI Protocol Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks

    A new report from Backslash Security has identified significant security vulnerabilities in the Model Context Protocol (MCP), technology introduced by Anthropic in November 2024 to facilitate communication between AI agents and external tools.

  • educators seated at a table with a laptop and tablet, against a backdrop of muted geometric shapes

    HMH Forms Educator Council to Inform AI Tool Development

    Adaptive learning company HMH has established an AI Educator Council that brings together teachers, instructional coaches and leaders from school district across the country to help shape its AI solutions.

  • illustration of a human head with a glowing neural network in the brain, connected to tech icons on a cool blue-gray background

    Meta Introduces Stand-Alone AI App

    Meta Platforms has launched a stand-alone artificial intelligence app built on its proprietary Llama 4 model, intensifying the competitive race in generative AI alongside OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and xAI.