Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) began distributing about 1,300 laptops to Santa Fe High School (SFHS) students on Tuesday as part of an effort to make the entire district “one to one.” 

Several local schools are already “one to one,” where every student has a dedicated device at school, but over the next two months ACPS plans to complete the process in every school, distributing over 4,500 iPads by the end of October. 

At SFHS, students received the laptops in their English classes, along with instructions on how to log in and personalize their desktops. 

Principal Kelly Armstrong, who moved from Oak View Middle School in a summertime shuffle of the district’s principals, said that though the school has computer labs, laptops the students can take home allow them to take ownership. Though students only keep their devices through senior year, they gain a sense of responsibility. 

“When it’s your laptop that you’re going to be taking, you want it to last,” Armstrong said in an interview. “And these kids are great, and I fully trust them.” 

In the school’s English classrooms, students speculated about how much the laptops cost, how they would keep track of and remember to charge them, and how the school’s internet would support them. 

Instructional technology coach Christina Cole said the school had already increased its onsite bandwidth to accommodate all students being on the internet. 

Overall, Armstrong said the process has been smooth, helped along by the ACPS instructional technology team and its previous experience at other schools. 

Armstrong said the laptops will also help students hone computer skills and help teachers integrate technology in the classroom. 

“We have fantastic teachers,” Armstrong said. “I’ve been here for… 12 days at Santa Fe High School, and I see how great our teachers are. So this is just another great tool for them to help our students be successful.”