The Kansas City School Board has approved a new program to supply all high school students (5,550) with laptop computers for the school day. The program will cost the district $6.4 million over 4 years.

“This is a bold, bold move and a difficult decision for the board,” acknowledged Superintendent Jill Shackelford.

The School Board has approved the program in order to “bridge the technology gap.”

As of yet, it has not been decided if students will be allowed to take the laptops home at night. Admittedly, this poses a greater security threat. If the lending program goes ahead, $10 computer insurance will be bought for each computer, and data security software to remotely wipe data will be installed.

Absolute Software’s Computrace products allow you to recover lost laptops, and also to remotely wipe data if needed.

Via KansasCity.com Tags: kansas city, laptop program, education, education technology, laptops in schools