And they'll be getting this $1,554,087 from where?

Might I add, we had to beg for tiny calculators for the special needs students!!! Don't get me started!!!

Glad I'm not a Brick taxpayer and over paying for Apple products.

Excellent Service

simple... bad idea for soo many reasons

why not just give every student an ipad? seriously the school should not be supplying students with laptops. so wrong.

And this is appropriate being as Brick High School is still not ADA compliant and the parents had to raise money for elevators and lifts? Seriously?

wow, why mac's????? 1500 vs a good pc probably more then half??? and they won't be able to use them in college as each school makes you buy THEIRS so it comes loaded with all THEIR software...what a joke

take it out of the teachers pay.

How is it going to decrease absenteeism if they cant take them home?

How long til one is missing (sold) for $$$?
I give it under 30 days.

Really, Mac computers? Why not chose a lower cost computer. Now I understand why my tax dollars are way, way out of control. Who actually comes up with these ideas? I would feel a whole lot better knowing these were given to special needs students who truly deserve them in order to better their lives. As usual Brick school system is a disappointment, which is why I send my child to private school.

How about we use cheaper Net Books and make the families buy them and pay installments on them if they need to. They they can keep them and we can stay current each year with new ones. The school can pay for the programs.

Ones who refuse will go into another classroom and not be taught that way. Why do my taxes need to go to helping make Apple a 1000.00 stock by mid year.

I'm currently a senior at bths. WE DO NOT EVEN HAVE CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONING. why do we need laptops?

Really??!!! I guess the NJEA has a lot more $$ then we all thought or knew (and they are denying). Ridiculous!!

We can look at this in many ways - However for the moment - some how, this will come up again in - "Property Taxes".

Lap tops for Teachers and Students - I'm all for Education and Technology - it's almost 2013 :)

Web cam - for the student to check in from home - when he or she calls out ?- the Teacher can interreact with the students as they do in other states.. [ besure to monitor who's monitoing the students] - no missing class.

Technology - to keep the children focused on education is an achievement for college planning - rather than a student focused on running out after school for that new new tattoo..

What questions me is - we are talking about: 1,100 for students + 325 for teachers ( we have 325 HS teachers?) total = 1425 Lap tops - if we divide those numbers into $1,554,087.00 = $1,090.59 each ??

Is there someone from a Lakewood distribution center selling these to all the local school system.?

When you can go to Tiger Direct.com - find one a lot cheeper - starting around $400 each for refurbished.? - keeping mind all the tracking software, spy ware that will need to be installed into each unit,, "just because" - that's still a bit costly.. no matter who you buy from; you still need an IT department to fix and repair them- or an outside 3rd party company for service.$

1425 Lap tops is a nice bulk drop ship from manufacture.. So - did we buy new or refurbs? - you know the questions are comming.

~ just saying....

I truly wonder if a parent with a child who has special needs would appreciate the mindless comments on this article. Since when is Brick Township Schools all about special needs? I brought my children up to respect all. Why is it posters on this article seem to want to begin a battle - Special needs vs. All. What a horrible misrepresentation.

this should really help lower property taxes and stem foreclosures in Bricktucky

I'm all for it. When I was at BTHS, we didn't have history books. Literally. There were no HISTORY BOOKS for my US History I & II classes. And this was after 2000! Of it were up to the people on this website, Brick schools would never make any progress or advancements, and its sickening. Keep complaining about the crime rates and all the other problems growing in this town, and stick your head in the sand and pretend it doesn't have a direct correlation to the education system. You should be BEGGING to pump more money into our schools. I went through the Brick school system, and if not for the teachers I had, it would have been abysmal. No student should EVER be told that there isn't books for the class because they don't have the money. You know what that says? It says "We don't care about you or your education". Keep turning your noses up at the idea of Brick Schools trying to keep up with the rest of the State/Country, and we'll soon be living in the disaster area you all seem to fear so much. Keep telling our kids their whole lives that they have to go to college, but complain incessantly when the opportunity to help them do that presents itself. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Complain about the lack of Central Air Conditioning. It's hot for the tiniest portion of the school year! Ive never seen a group of people complain about positive things like the good people of Bricktucky.

Also, nobody is "giving" laptops to anyone. The schools own the laptops, and the students use them throughout the day, then leave them at school when the day ends. It's 2012. There are ways to keep them from visiting sites that are not approved, doing things that would slow or halt productivity, downloading, etc...This is a huge positive for our town, and as usual, the Negative Nancies have to try and spoil it.

Bricktownship HS is quite literally falling apart!!! Windows rotting, antiquated furnace/heating sytem - no AC - the list goes on and on and on....and they are going to spend $1.5 MILLION on laptops!!!
" laptop programs decrease absenteeism and discipline problems and increase student achievement". - PLEASE TELL ME HOW????

"School officials said high school seniors will be the first to receive the laptops because they will be heading to college or the workplace and should have experience with computer applications." - ARE YOU KIDDING - THESE KIDS KNOW MORE ABOUT COMPUTERS THEN WE EVER WILL!

Once again - amazed, embarassed and appalled at Brick schools..........

You want to make a big stink about a waste of money? Make some signs, gather your neighbors, and head on over to that atrocious empty lot next to St Thomas on Rt. 70. You're whining about spending money so students can have a better shot at the future. You're complaining about putting Brick's schools ahead of others in terms of technology and preparation for the real world, while millions were wasted buying a giant parking lot that remains untouched TO THIS DAY. If you're so anti-Brick schools, anti-progress, and anti-spending money on our future, then why are you here? You pay more than anyone else in the nation to live here, and do nothing but complain. If this isn't where you want to be, then LEAVE. Delaware is nice and cheap. I'm sure they'd LOVE to have you. Just don't tell them that you want it to be 1999 forever.

Want to know why they're not pouring money into school repairs? Because the good people of Brick Township VOTED AGAINST IT! Talk to your neighbors about that, not me, I voted for it. As far as I'm concerned, you lost all right to complain when that was voted down. Thank God they're taking the initiative and making this happen without asking the people to vote for it. Want to know why you pay such high taxes? The good people of Brick Township VOTED FOR IT! How quickly you forget.

The laptops will start to be mistreated and broken, if not stolen. This will surely be a waste of money. Technology is great in the classroom, but providing laptops for the kids to carry around all day in school is just a little much.

I'm not trying to sit here and complain about how the voters failed BTHS on funding for repairs. Like I said, I'm still a student, I can not vote. But I am concerned with how the board approved of a $1.5 million bill to give us laptops when they can't even be bothered to fix the asbestos outbreak in our school. We the student body did not ask for these laptops. But what we do ask for every day of the school year is for someone to help repair our school in order to restore BTHS pride. Because quite frankly, there is minimal anymore. And this is coming from a current student himself. Handing me a laptop to take notes will not make me less likely to be absent from school. Giving me a reason to be proud of my school and look forward to attending such as: having the CORRECT lab equipment for science labs, having enough lumber for the wood shop department, etc, will. My current science courses are being taught in a history room, without a sink. So yes I'm proud of the board for realizing we are in a technologically advanced society, but I would much rather them start to improve our school AFTER they at least bring it up to standard working conditions.

"Uszenski said though few districts in the state currently have such a program,"

There is one very nearby Brick......Pt Beach. Have they visited the beach schools to learn about their program and get some insider knowledge? Beach has been doing one-to-one for a little while.

Would be curious to hear why they chose apple's.

If there were an "asbestos outbreak" in your school, I can assure you, you would not be there. The difference is, the school repairs were voted on, and failed. This program, for whatever reason, doesn't appear to need voter approval.

I'm guessing they went with MacBooks instead of something else because they wanted quality.

I wasn't suggesting they sell it, Dan. Just pointing out how ridiculous it is to complain about the laptop program that can actually help students, while an empty lot that millions were paid for sits there like an eye sore.

Okay I'm sorry I forgot you still go to school everyday and know that the construction they are doing to the new science rooms were put back a few months because of the overwhelming amount of esbestos that was found.

Anthony
How much is ur property tax bill?......... you do own your own house.....correct?

I am all for advancing computer technology in the school system..But to spend 1.5 million on it now when there are so many other things that money could be used for to improve the conditions in the school is wrong... And to address Anthonys comments...Myself and a whole lot of others voted YES 3 years ago to approve the big construction project on the school...its the seniors with no children in the school system who voted NO ! I would not mind paying more then the 15,000 in taxes I pay now if it was going to improve the conditions in BTHS..I wonder if Anthony even owns a house?

FYI have 3 kids middle school & HS have been a home owner for over 12 years & vote for the budget every year, While I see a lot of increases in pay, & 160,000+ salaries, I see a lot of cuts for the kids & unnecessary projects being done & over sized classrooms, I think if you would have a better turnout of middle ages parents with children in the schools if we had a break down of where & how the money is spend ( in simple terms) in the voting polls & be able to decide what % we want where....as mentioned above, how do you have a history class with no books? how do you have science laps without sinks? ... how do you not have running water in the bathrooms, roofs leaking, exposed plumbing, etc... & worry about solar panels, bleachers, & laptops??

@ reality Iam aware of that, like I said it should be in a short easy to read & understand at the polls & what you are talking about is once the $$ is decided we can then vote if we want it.. what I'am saying before that, we should be about to say... we would like % in classroom materials, % in transportation,% in special education % is salaries..% in needed repairs % in projects etc... We as the voted should be able to put in our input if where we want the $$ spent

Yes, I do own my own home. Not outright, it's still being paid for, but I do pay taxes. It's in Cherry Quay, so it's not cheap.

When the schools do nothing everyone complains, when the schools do something everyone complains.
This is a great program and will only enhance the learning opportunity for the HS students.
I applaud the BOE for doing the right thing for our kids.
The “Successful Student” needs to be given all of the tools required to become a “Successful Adult”.

So let’s put down the cigarettes, forget about the “cold-one” at the bar and work with your kids.
Many Brick kids fail because they have parents who really don’t know how to parent.
And better technology costs money, stop the crying. I'm glad our tax dollars our going to something worth while for once.
Great job BOE!!!

I'm a junior at bths, and I like this idea. But I have the agree with the person a few comments above mine, WE DO NOT EVEN HAVE AIR CONDITIONING! They should be getting AC, or fixing the fact that our school is ancient, leaking in many different places, and falling apart before going and spending 1.5M on macbooks. I'm surprised they finally started putting soap in the bathrooms. Also i don't get why they couldn't just make a deal with one of the PC manufacturers like Toshiba, HP, or Dell, They could get PC laptops with the same specs as macbooks for half the price.

I heard that apple was donating the laptops. For all we know this could be good for the school, nothing much happens for us students so why deny the one thing we were given and we won't know if its good or bad intill we get them in January.

I am sure we are all for modern technology and learning but lets face the facts the Township of Brick spent tons of money on a student ID swipe on every bus and I know for a fact, since I do have two student in this school district, neither of them used it once, today they are not even being used. That money could have been put to good use for basic renovations at Brick Township High School. I am appauled that my son who is a freshman football player did not even have a decent uniform to wear for his games and all of the parents had to buy helmets costing up to 400 dollars because Brick Township High School did not have the proper equipment to keep my child safe as far as concussions. My son was in pop warner for eight years and they had everything they needed, this makes me very angry.
I am disappointed now that my daughter is a senior that she had to experience such a broken down school and we all know as adults our High School years is something that we will carry forever. Brick High School needs renovations at this point in time, not expensive laptops when students are capable of taking their notes on paper.

@Brickstudentlol if you can read the big bold print at the top is says that we are paying $1.5million for these laptops. So, no, the rumor you heard is not true that the laptops are being donated by apple.