By Starly Richards,
Staff Writer.
In recent school board meetings and across our own campus, there has been debate and controversy about whether or not Chromebooks are classified as “instructional materials.” But why does it matter?
During the pandemic, the Santa Rosa City Schools district advertised itself as a “1:1 district,” meaning that the school has a policy of providing one device (a Chromebook at high school and middle school) for every student. However, this school year the district has stopped defining itself as 1:1, scrubbing the policy from their website. The district did this because the school does not have enough Chromebooks for each student and the looming budget crisis is discouraging the school board from paying for additional devices. Attempts to justify their choice have been made, saying that Chromebooks are not in fact instructional materials.
However, the Santa Rosa City Schools district website defines instructional materials as “all materials that are designed for use by pupils and their teachers as a learning resource. Instructional materials may be printed or non-printed and may include textbooks, technology-based materials, other educational materials, and tests.” By this definition, it would be obvious to assume that Chromebooks are instructional materials.
In response to questions from teachers, the district has also stated officially that “Chromebooks are necessary for state testing,” which would make them instructional materials. From a technical standpoint it is clear that the district does in fact consider Chromebooks to be instructional materials, but from a more practical standpoint Chromebooks are essential for students. Not all students own their own laptops, and online work is deeply embedded in modern schooling. Access to Chromebooks for all students is necessary to ensure a free and fair education for all in the digital age.
Librarians, called “library technicians” by the district, spend a large amount of time dealing with Chromebooks, and their jobs would be greatly affected if the district stopped classifying Chromebooks as instructional materials. “I would guess that probably about 30- to 35% of our time is spent dealing with Chromebook things,” said librarian Joanna Kiesel. Students routinely come to the library with Chromebook concerns with which the librarians cannot help. “We have a lot of students who come in asking for password help — we can’t do that — and so a lot of our days are spent saying, ‘I’m so sorry we can’t help you with that’ or ‘Let’s try a different Chromebook.’” said Kiesel.
If Chromebooks are not in fact instructional materials and the district is not required to provide them to all students, some argue that library technicians should be compensated for all the time they spend dealing with Chromebooks. No matter what the outcome is, Chromebooks are essential to schooling in the modern era and the district needs to clarify their policy on these devices.
