The passing of the no tax increase bond and levy vote on August 7th allowed BSSD to raise money for several projects–including the one-to-one initiative that provides all 9th-12th grade students with a laptop. After preparing about 4,500 devices, district administrators passed out Surface Go tablets to seniors last week. As the first group, these seniors will help troubleshoot and solve problems before devices are handed out to underclassmen.

“We feel like we have a really really good senior class this year so they would be able to shoot through what issues we had A) with the handout B) with the devices if there was anything. We feel like this is a strong senior class very responsible group really smart group so because of that, we felt like they would be a good class to start with,” BSHS Principle Tom Alderman said.

The handouts included not only device how to steps, but liability and insurance information as well. The device itself is covered by insurance, but the accessories are not.

“The main investment is the computers itself and that is why that is being covered by the insurance policy. People can go out and buy a new keyboard, a new charger and those kinds of things, but they couldn’t go out and just replace the computer so that’s why they wanted to make sure that’s where the most money was invested in. That’s where the major expense is and that’s why they wanted to make sure that’s what was covered by the insurance,” Alderman added.

Senior Jackson Wheeler looks forward to the device helping him complete his online assignments.

“I think it would be cool to take my work home and actually WORK on it at home because my computer at home doesn’t really work that well. Every student will be able to do that and it’s pretty cool,” Wheeler said.

The ability to work anywhere makes the device more usable to students, Wheeler feels.

“If you have homework in one class and you can only do it on a computer, now you’re able to do it on tablets so you don’t have to go to the computer lab or the library or anything like that,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler would have liked to have had devices earlier in his high school career but is still grateful to have the experience.

“Just to be able to research something whenever. I could be at lunch, I can be in any class, I could be at home, or anywhere. It will be with me at all times so I’ll be able to have that resource with me whenever,” Wheeler said.

Senior Braxton Hagewood is happy to have this resource where she can do her assignments. Hagewood likes how its school based to keep her from getting distracted.

“It’s something that’s purely school based so I can’t really let my mind wander because a lot of the sites are blocked. It’s just going to make it a lot easier to focus,” Hagewood said.

Hagewood believes that other students will benefit from having this resource for their school work.

“I don’t think I need anything from it, but I know other people who really need it and they’re going to benefit from it a lot. If you don’t have enough money for a computer or if you don’t have the money for WIFI it would be a lot easier for a lot of people,” Hagewood said.

There are numerous benefits to the Surface Go tablets but a main one is how much it will help with school work. Working on two week implementation schedule, juniors, sophomores, and freshman will receive their tablets in the coming weeks.