So, buy the Chromebooks

Posted 6/4/15

To the Editor:

I was at the inaugural address for Mayor Scott Avedisian in January and heard him say, “I want every student to have Chromebooks.”

I was at the budget hearings for …

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So, buy the Chromebooks

Posted

To the Editor:

I was at the inaugural address for Mayor Scott Avedisian in January and heard him say, “I want every student to have Chromebooks.”

I was at the budget hearings for the school department where I heard the chief budget officer of the Warwick School Department, Anthony Ferrucci, state how critically important it was to have 7,000 more Chromebooks (the school department now has 3,000). We saw a video showing first graders using them and the results were nothing short of spectacular.

At those same hearings I heard that the health benefits for the school department have a surplus of $3,300,000 and that the Chromebooks would cost approximately $1,000,000.

I have since learned from Mr. Ferrucci that the $3,300,000 accumulated over a 16-year time period suggests to me that it represents “stable” money.

So at the risk of sounding like “Captain Obvious,” why can’t we just take $1,000,000 out of the health benefit surplus and buy 7,000 Chromebooks today?

We would still have a safe reserve for health benefits ($2,300,000) and our children will have the technology they critically need. Warwick has a lot of issues that are difficult to solve. This isn’t one of them.

Let’s do this!

Richard Corrente

Corrente is a declared Democrat for Mayor for 2016.

Comments

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  • davebarry109

    Buying students laptops is just plain stupid and unnecessary. Let them use the desk tops in the classrooms/library.

    Wednesday, June 10, 2015 Report this

  • davet1107

    Mr.. Corrente, that 'surplus' is there contractually and, more importantly, to be used to smooth out increases in the out-years. So lets just say that they were able to draw it down and purchase all the Chromebooks. Then next year they get hit with a 7% hike in healthcare costs and now need to budget an extra, say $750k, $900k, to that line item. i submit that you would join the chorus in piling on Mr. Ferrucvi because the 'cant seem to manage their healthcare costst'.

    davebarry109, desktops?!?!? seriously?

    Wednesday, June 10, 2015 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    Dear Davebarry109,

    You are absolutely right. That surplus is there contractually. And the School Department has absolute control over it. And that surplus has been MORE than was needed for the last 16 YEARS IN A ROW!!! AND it has grown every year FOR 16 YEARS IN A ROW!

    So Dave, we have 2 choices. Keep money in a fund that was more than we needed FOR THE LAST 16 YEARS IN A ROW!!! Or... take a million out of it now, today, leaving a healthy $2,300,000 in it and buy the Chromebooks that our children desperately need TODAY!

    Dave, we MIGHT get hit with a new expense next year that we never had in the last 16 years but I think we can agree that the need for Chomebooks is much more important and much more "immediate". I have spoken many times about the "Students First!" part of my platform. In essence it means that the teachers are important. The union is important. The taxpayers that are paying $60,000,000 in taxes to fund the schools (almost twice what Providence pays) are also important. But no one; NO ONE is more important than our children. Our schools went from 19,000 students in the 70's to 9,100 today. We must improve the quality of our childrens education. Everything else is tied for second place.

    Can we agree?

    Saturday, June 13, 2015 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    Typographical error. Warwick taxpayers are paying $160,000,000, not $60,000 as I stated above. My finger slipped.

    Sorry.

    Saturday, June 13, 2015 Report this

  • davebarry109

    Yes desktops. Laptops break easily. All computers need updating every few years. You're lucky to get 5 years out of them. We can't afford to make laptops part of the education experience. Ask anyone who runs an IT department at a company. You're talking budgeting lots of money every year just to keep up.

    Also, laptops are not necessary to teach/learn. They are a nice little tool but totally unnecessary. Desktops are cheap, harder to break, and more easily upgraded if purchased correctly.

    Wednesday, June 17, 2015 Report this