By Rebecca Rider

rebecca.rider@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — The future of a three-year lease with Apple Inc. is still uncertain after the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education spent nearly an hour in debate at its Monday work session.

The board began discussing the renewal of its lease with Apple, a nearly $14 million contract, at the beginning of the calendar year. During its Jan. 23 business meeting, board members asked school staff if it would be possible to put off renewing the contract until 2018.

But Monday, the school system’s director of digital innovation, Andrew Smith, said it would be best to strike while the iron is hot.

“The reason we believe we need to move now as opposed to waiting another year has a lot to do with our warranty agreement with Apple,” he said.

The system’s warranty includes basic repairs and fixes. At the end of the year, repairs to the aging fleet of laptops and iPads will become the responsibility of the school system.

Another reason to renew the lease now is that the system will be able to sell its current devices back for roughly $3 million, money that can be put toward the new lease — knocking the total down to $11 million.

“The problem with us waiting and our residual value is that over time … the market for that device will substantially decrease,” Smith said.

Apple is also rumored to be releasing a new operating system in the fall, Smith said. If that happens, it’s likely that district devices will no longer be supported. Some apps may stop updating, and any new apps or tools would be unavailable. The devices would still work, Smith said, “but it will be stuck in time.”

Should the board choose to renew the lease, Smith said, the warranty with Apple guarantees that the devices would “work as intended” for the remainder of the lease.

But some board members were still hesitant to move forward.

“I personally still have some reservations about the whole digital one-to-one concept,” board member Dean Hunter said.

While Hunter said he is not advocating for technology to be removed from schools, he would like to see some evidence that the initiative is accomplishing its original goals.

“Has it served its purpose, and if so, how do we know that? … What are we measuring this by, and so how can we say this is effective?” he said.

Board member Richard Miller pointed out that the school system really only has two years of data on the program — calling the first year it was implemented an “overnight change” that took some getting used to.

“I think we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t accept the one-on-one conversion as an in-progress proposition,” he said.

Two years after implementation, he said, isn’t “long enough to know much about anything.” Miller said he thinks the data collected so far supports one-to-one and  that it is the direction in which education is moving.

“And for once, I’m happy for Rowan to be going in the right direction about something. I think it’s high time we were going in the right direction about something instead of being on the national news for some idiotic thing we’ve done,” he said.

Vice Chairwoman Susan Cox agreed, calling virtual classrooms, computers and technology in education the “wave of the future.”

“Although I am not in love with tech, I think we are on a track that we need to be on,” she said.

Unless there is clear evidence that the district is being held back or staying stagnant, the system needes to “keep on,” she said.

Board member Travis Allen said that he could not deny the benefit to middle and high school students but added he is concerned about the exposure of students in kindergarten through third grade.

Board member Alisha Byrd recommended conducting a survey of parents, teachers and students about the devices.

After some more discussion, Allen asked if there is a way to monitor how many elementary students are using the devices for schoolwork at home. Hunter said the board owes it to the community to have a system in place to measure the initiative’s success.

“We need to make sure that we are measuring the success of an idea, a philosophy from the superintendent. … We’ve put a lot of eggs in one basket,” he said.

Assistant Superintendent Julie Morrow said that staff do have data and surveys from students and teachers about the effectiveness of the initiative that could be shared at the next board meeting.

The board agreed to put off making a decision until it hears that information. The discussion will resume at the Feb. 27 business meeting at 5 p.m. in the Wallace Educational Forum boardroom, 500 N. Main St. Public comment will be held at 6 p.m.

Contact reporter Rebecca Rider at 704-797-4264.