Dear St. Luke’s Families,
We are excited to announce new details about the 1-to-1 laptop program that St. Luke’s will begin when school opens in August 2012.
The introduction of this 1-to-1 program is very exciting for our school. We will be the first independent school in San Antonio to take this step. Leading independent schools across the country have been experimenting with such programs for the last decade, and through an exhaustive research process, we have been able to fashion our program based upon their experiences.
At the start of the 2012 – 2013 academic year, all students in grades 5 through 8 will be provided with a MacBook Air laptop by the school. Parents will not have to purchase laptops for their children. These laptops will be for each student’s individual use at school and at home for the entire academic year.
The only added cost of the 1-to-1 program to middle school parents will be a $200 technology fee.
The school will provide the following to every middle school student:
· An 11 inch MacBook Air
· Expansive software bundle
· Comprehensive web filtering on and off campus to protect our students on-line
· A comprehensive warranty that includes on-site AppleCare, accidental damage and theft
· The school will also create a new faculty position, a Digital Learning Specialist, who will work with the faculty and the students to enhance teaching and learning using digital resources
Chuck Kremer, the Associate Head of Middle School, Mike Zeigler, the Director of Technology, and myself will now run a series of parent meetings to talk in much more detail about the program, and above all to explain the curricular reasons why we feel this is such a necessary step for the future of learning at St. Luke’s. The first set of meetings will be this week.
· Thursday, January 19th at 8:30am in the church parlor, and at 6:00pm in the McNab gymnasium.
· We will then hold a second meeting on Thursday, February 2nd at 8:30am in the church parlor.
I want to encourage everyone to attend, and thank those parents whose questions over the last month about the program have provided us with helpful guidance.
A rich and enlightening conversation about learning in the digital age at St. Luke’s awaits us all, but I want to leave you with a few thoughts.
On the one hand, this 1-to-1 laptop program will have a significant impact upon our children’s education. A great school today must embrace the power of technology and the online information universe, because, to put it simply, that is where our children live, and that is where many of them will in the future find stimulating and remunerative employment. As educators it is our duty to teach our students how to use technology to enhance critical thinking, to research with discernment and rigor, and to create and to innovate as artists, scientists and designers.
Just as we provide our students with a strong foundation in reading, writing and mathematics, we must, going forward, provide them with an equally firm foundation in digital literacy. Technology and the Internet are too important, too empowering, to be reduced in our children’s lives to vehicles for mere entertainment and socializing.
On the other hand, the introduction of this 1-to-1 program is perhaps not such a big deal. Every generation likes to believe it is living in important, transformational times, and my generation of educators is not immune to that tempting narcissism. But retreat into solitude for a time, switch off the iPhone, shut down the computer, and I think a recognition will emerge from the distracting noise of claim and counter-claim about what we must do in the present, to prepare our students for meaningful lives in twenty years time.
A 1-to-1 laptop program is just the latest iteration of educational tools that we employ to pass the torch of knowledge and intellectual and imaginative passion to the next generation. And that is it – and nothing more. A computer is no more a teacher than a pencil, a textbook or a library card catalogue. The heart and soul of a St. Luke’s education is still the close relationships that are forged between teachers and students, as they learn and grow together. Our mission remains as it always has, to send out young people into the world who will live the St. Luke’s Way for the rest of their lives.
Dr. Mark Reford
Head of School
St. Luke’s Episcopal School
