Site Council will fund a proposal for teacher laptops as per Site Council’s vote at a meeting on Monday, according to Assistant Principal Chuck Merritt.

The proposal, which requests funds of $21,000 from Site Council, costs a total of $58,072, an amount that has recently increased from $52,948 due to the addition of new teachers in the staff, according to Merritt. After Site Council’s contribution, the laptop project will require an additional $17,072 for complete funding, but Merritt is hopeful that he will not need to seek future funding from Site Council.

“The district bond has built in a new section for an ongoing fund for teacher technology,” Merritt said. “Hopefully if this bond is approved, we will be able to replace the existing laptops at a four-year cycle.”

Currently, there are 78 computers already in use by the Paly staff, which have been made available by funding from PTSA grants, parent donations and PAFE grants, according to Merritt.

“We want teachers to have laptops for three reasons,” Merritt said. “Lack of space, encouraging teachers to use InClass, and getting [teachers] to use the new district-supported wireless network.”

In providing Paly teachers with laptops, Merritt encourages more teachers to use online resources such as InClass, which increase communication between teachers and students regarding homework and grades.

“Homework communication is a rock bottom necessity, so it’s important that teachers utilize InClass,” Merritt said. “The grade program on InClass isn’t so good, so I bought access to WebGrade, another grade program that’s easier to use, which the math department is currently using.”

The requested computer for this project is a 13″ MacBook with SuperDrive Tiger OS and a Leopard drop-in kit.

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Merritt said. “We want to continue to push forward in this project.”