SANFORD — After the Lee County Board of Education approved the purchase Tuesday of 2,326 laptops for all middle school students, administrators said implementing a 1:1 laptop program is the way to prepare students for the future.

The $1,455,781.22 purchase, which comes from state funds, gives laptops to all middle school students and teachers.

Superintendent Jeff Moss said he envisions the students using the computers for writing assignments, creating presentations and making spreadsheets using Microsoft Office, downloading video streams and communicating with teachers using a system like Blackboard, a Web-based forum for teachers and students.

THE COST

The HP 5101 mini computers, which don’t have a CD drive but are equipped like laptops, cost $494 each, said Chief Technology Officer Cindy Johnson. The backpacks for each student cost $20 a piece and the theft tracking technology, Computrace, cost $68.31 per computer, Johnson said. The purchase was taxed at 7.75 percent.

The district wanted three specific things when purchasing the computers: a six-hour battery, webcam and 802.11n wireless access, which Johnson said is the latest standard for wireless.

The six-hour battery is needed to last the school day, Johnson said, and it increased the price quite a bit. The 802.11n wireless is faster and harder to find than the more common 802.11g, she said.

Administrators did look into purchasing from Walmart or Radio Shack, but could not find exactly what they wanted, Johnson added.

Moss said choosing HP came through state contracts.

“We don’t have a lot of choice off the state contract,” he said. “There are some companies that set that all up with the state.”

THE FUNDING

Moss said the district wanted to take advantage of the state funding while it was available.

“With the state budget, you don’t know when it’s going to be frozen,” he said. “What we’re looking at is funds from the state to operate public schools. It fluctuates year to year. In past years, they’ve taken money away. This year, we’re trying to get ahead of the curve and use money now. It’s just a reprioritization of funding.”

State money will also be used when the laptops need to be refurbished in four years, Moss said. The district is also looking into becoming an HP service center, which would offset the refurbishing costs, he said. The district could save money by trying online textbooks that will replace the use of traditional textbooks.

“Right now, we’re in conversation with two companies about piloting e-books at not cost to us,” he said. “We’ll end up saving all of the textbook costs for middle school. At $70, $80, $100 a book, it can end up being a huge redirection of funding.”

THE USAGE

At the schools, the Internet access on the laptops will go through the district’s firewall, so things like Facebook and social networking sites are off limits.

At home, however, managing Internet usage is the responsibility of the parents, he said. He hopes students will continue their school work at home.

“The research opportunities are endless,” he said. “Teachers can still assign things, kids can work in groups online. It just extends the learning.”

But when asked about the reality of such extra work happening after school hours, Moss laughed and said, “I hope it will be used for that some of the time.”

THE REASON

Johnson said the laptops were purchased because the district is trying to stay competitive with others in the state.

“I think people feel we’re at the bleeding edge of technology,” she said. “We’re just trying to stay in the curve. We’re not doing anything that’s way out there.”

Chatham County Schools adopted the 1:1 laptop program this fall, said Director of Technology Peggy Douglas, equipping about 2250 high school students with Apple laptops. Many of the computers were accumulated over three or four years; Douglas couldn’t say how much the district has spent on the total number of computers.

“It’s working great. We’re really very, very pleased,” she said.

Mitch Stensland, principal for Chatham Central High School, said equipping all high schoolers with laptops has “leveled the playing field.”

“The Internet is the future of business. It’s helped our students get a head start in that arena,” he said. “It’s really opened the door to innovative teaching and instruction.”

Chatham Central spent the first month getting settled with the new program, like setting up the computers and teaching students to check batteries, Stensland said. He added that he’s only had a few cases of students visiting inappropriate Web sites and out of 480 students, five machines have been damaged from being dropped or sat on.

Students take to computers “like a duck to water,” Johnson said, and educators have to adapt to students’ changing needs.

“They’re very bored when they’re not engaged actively,” she said. “We can’t keep teaching them the way that we did 25 and 30 years ago. They no longer have the attention span for that.”