CASHS switches to iPads, and more things to know from Chambersburg school board

The Chambersburg Area school board heard about a variety of successes and approved plans for the future at the last meeting of the school year on Tuesday.

CASHS students will get iPads

The school district is swapping the Dell Chromebooks provided to students at Chambersburg Area Senior High School for Apple iPads.

The school board voted unanimously on the technology update for the 1:1 program, which pairs each student with a device they complete most of their academic work on at school and at home.

Through the lease agreement with Apple, CASD will make an initial payment of $322,762.38 by July 15 followed by equal payments each year through 2027. Overall, the district will pay Apple $1,291,049.52, according to the lease agreement.

While the cost of an iPad/case pair is about $100 more than the Chromebook, there are less fees and more resale value, according to a cost breakdown. But the big savings comes from interest; the Apple lease includes just 2 cents in interest, while Chromebook lease included more than $90,000 in interest.

CASD will receive 2,400 10.9-inch 10th Generation iPads with 64 GB of memory, each with a STM Dux keyboard case. The deal also includes AppleCare+ for Schools for each iPad, 140 Apple TVs, 170 Logitech keyboard cases for other iPads, two Mac Mini desktop computers and the Apple Professional Learning training program.

The district has used Chromebooks since implementing its 1:1 program at the high school in the 2019-20 school year, just in time for the pandemic and remote learning.

The switch to iPads at CASHS is part of an initiative to refresh the technology used across the district post-COVID to better meet the needs of students.

Employee agreements updated

The school board also approved updates to employee work agreements for administrators, food service workers, transportation department employees, support personnel not covered by the bargaining agreement and district psychologists.

Updates were made after comparing CASD's salary and benefits packages to what is offered by similar and neighboring districts. The goal is to improve recruitment efforts and increase retention.

“We followed a very strict process to follow the data to come up with these agreements," Superintendent Chris Bigger said.

Among the changes are increases to yearly raises, increased health insurance deductibles and the elimination of vacation time buyback.

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Workforce development program highlighted

CASHS Principal Brad Ocker highlighted the workforce development program, which allows students to work jobs at companies in the area for part of the school day. It depends on the company, but many students earn an hourly wage as well as graduation credits.

JLG is a key partner. Fourteen students who went to work there this school year accepted jobs there post-graduation, Ocker said.

Forty-eight students have applied to work at JLG in the fall. They are among about 100 students from across the 18 participating schools who have applied.

Other participating companies include Volvo Construction Equipment, Patriot Federal Credit Union (which employees 4 students a year in the branch inside CASHS), Paramount Senior Living and Burpee Seeds. Burnside America Inc. will be a new partner next school year.

This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Chambersburg school board: CASHS to get iPads; worker agreements updated