psmithtx

Maybe Klein should have other ways to remotely access these materials, but they don't. We have high speed internet access at home and cannot access them from here unless my daughter is on her laptop. As for nearby library branches, there are no nearby library branches. On top of that, there are many disadvantaged students in our boundaries. They wouldn't even be able to get to the library. There are a lot of things Klein SHOULD do, but they don't. In the end, the laptop experiment has been a failure and a huge cost to the district. They were supposed to implement the program district wide, but haven't had the money to do it. I'm not even sure how they will have the money to replace these laptops in two years. The best thing Klein could do would be to shut down the laptop program and go back to teaching with books, pen and paper. Then, we could just go back to the excuse that the dog at the homework.

I have no idea if this will even be read since this is so old. I have been researching the Klein ISD laptops and came across this forum. I'm a parent of a soon to be junior at Klein Oak and thought I'd comment on how the program has gone. In my opinion, the laptop program needs to go away. I was all for this program and was pretty excited to my daughter would have a laptop for High School. Here are some of the realities: 1. Teenagers are very hard on laptops. 2. Laptops that have been abused don't last. 3. The laptops at Klein Oak are in such disrepair, that they are nearly useless. This, after only three years of use. AND, the district doesn't plan on replacing them for two more years. I use a laptop for work. I depend on it, but I take care of it. My company, with a much smaller annual budget than Klein ISD replaces my laptop every 2 1/2 to 3 years. After that amount of time, the computer is old and needs to be replaced. I couldn't imagine working on a five year old laptop - which is what my daughter will have for her senior year. My daughter spent nearly 30 school days without her laptop this past school year. She had numerous issues that she didn't cause. Several times, she was working on a project when the laptop just failed. Gone. It wouldn't turn on, log on, nothing. She had learned to save her work, so what she had don't didn't get lost, but she couldn't finish and, of course, the work was due the next day. The teachers at Klein Oak don't allow a failed computer as an excuse for not finishing homework. Well, if you can only access your homework on the laptop, can only do your homework on the laptop, but that laptop doesn't work, how do you turn it in? I have no problem with Klein ISD trying this program. Again, I thought it was a great idea myself. Now, in reality and with the 20/20 hindsight, it is time for Klein to retire the laptop program and go back to hiring actual teachers.