During Friday morning’s special meeting of the Amarillo Independent School District Board of Trustees, the board unanimously approved the purchase of 3,401 replacement Chromebooks for students on the district’s elementary and middle school campuses.
Doug Loomis, the superintendent of the district, said the new laptops will replace the old devices which will not be able to update after September. This purchase was originally planned to replace 25% of the oldest devices at the elementary and middle school levels as part of a four-year refresh cycle.
The computers, including associated management licensing fees, will cost $1,122,330, Loomis said. But while district officials would normally bring this kind of purchase to the board later in the year, the potential for reimbursement from the state helped the district make the decision to pursue this decision now.