Writing for the King County Journal , Nora Doyle reports that Tukwila, Wa.’s cash-strapped Foster High School may have to turn down US$43,000 worth of free Macs because of a PC-only IT policy already in place.
According to the report, a teacher at the school applied for a grant offered by a nonprofit organization to outfit the school with 30 new Macs and six new laser printers. The school won the grant, but ran into a snag: A technology plan adopted in 2000 requires Tukwila-area schools to use only Windows PCs, not Macs.
Superintendent Michael Silver defended the policy by explaining that by focusing on a single computer platform, the six-person technology department can maintain, repair and replace computers more cost-effectively.
The teacher at the center of this imbroglio, Jeff Heiman, professed ignorance of the school’s technology plan prior to his application, but told the Journal that the school “needs these computers.” One parent of children enrolled at the school called the decision to turn down the Mac-friendly grant “asinine.”
The Journal reported that the matter would be discussed at a school board meeting scheduled for last night. As MacCentral posted this article, no further details about the results of that meeting were available.