Some Elementary Students Will Be Able to Take Their iPads Home for the Summer

Students at some Arlington elementary schools will be allowed to take their school-issued iPads home for the summer.

Letters were sent to parents of eligible students last week, asking them to “supervise and monitor your child while on the device” but also giving them the option of refusing the take-home iPad.

“The decision to allow students to take the APS issued iPads home over the summer is made individually by the administration at each school,” said Arlington Public Schools spokesman Frank Bellavia. “We are excited for the opportunity for our students to be able to extend their learning over the summer through access to high quality digital resources including curriculum specific tools as well as thousands of eBooks through the APS Library and Arlington Public Library systems.”

The letter sent to parents of Hoffman-Boston Elementary students, after the jump. A full list of the schools allowing take-home iPads was not immediately available.

June 9, 2016

Dear Hoffman-Boston Families:

As part of our Digital Learning Initiative, students in grades 2-5 have been provided with iPads to enhance our instructional program and to create a more personalized classroom learning experience. Our All-Star Students have been doing a wonderful job with them in the classroom all year! Students will be permitted to bring their iPads home over the summer. Our expectation is that students engage in structured learning activities to provide opportunities for remediation and enrichment. Students will have access to select books from an online library and a variety of programs to support literacy and mathematics. Specific details related to available activities, resources and applications will be provided to parents by grade level teams prior to the end of the school year.

We ask that you supervise and monitor your child while on the device to ensure that students are handling their devices responsibly and adhering to school guidelines. As a reminder and for your review the technology expectations for each student are listed below:

• I will bring my iPad to school every day, charged and read to use.
• I will use my iPad to complete my assignments and to read at least 30 minutes each day.
• I will use my clean cloth to clean my iPad daily
• I will ONLY use the apps and websites my teachers and parents tell me I can use.
• I will always know the location of my iPad.
• I will use the iPad safely and respectfully.
• I will not use my iPad to bully, tease or hurt anyone.
• I will protect my privacy and not share any personal information, including my name, address, age, school, or a picture of myself, while online.
• I will never send a person my picture or anything else without first checking with my parents
• I will follow all other guidelines outlined in the APS Use of Electronic Devices
• If, at any time, I do not follow these rules, my teacher or parent can remove my iPad privileges.

Parents may access useful information on how to use the device at the following link:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1595/en_US/ipad_user_guide.pdf.

If you would NOT like for your child to have their digital device over the summer, please sign and return the attached form to your child’s teacher. If you choose to have the device remain at the school, your child’s device will be returned to them when we return from school in the fall.

Educationally Yours,

Kimberley Graves
Principal

File photo by Jackie Friedman