Starting this spring, Highland Park High School students will be allowed to use their iPads, netbooks, laptops, Droids, flim-flams, doohickeys, and whatchamakoozles in class, in an effort to bring the district in line with current electronic and academic trends.
Last night the district’s Board of Trustees approved the plan, which would make students sign on to a protected program, filtering inappropriate and non-academic sites. The long-gestating move is an attempt to give students the best tools possible to complete their assignments, district spokeswoman Helen Williams said during the meeting.
Students will still not be allowed to use their phones for texting or calls during class, but may be able to use them for research or assignments. With HPISD facing certain cuts in upcoming years, the move is also an attempt to bolster the district’s technology by enlisting students’ own devices.
The plan will launch in the high school in January, and if all goes well the middle school will follow suit.
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