TEXARKANA, Texas - The Liberty-Eylau Independent School District Board of Trustees plan to consider buying at least 1,175 more Chrome Book laptop computers for students at every grade level.
L-EISD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Ceretha Brown told board members during their regular meeting Thursday, it would cost $19,000 to supply about 50 Chrome Book devices to Early Childhood (PreK through Kindergarten) students, $37,000 for 125 of these devices for elementary students, $81,500 250 Chrome books for middle school students and about $244,000 for 750 of these laptops for high school students.
Board members agreed that if the district had to go virtual again - possibly because of COVID-19 - they could potentially vote to approve allowing students to take the laptops home with them - which students aren't presently allowed to do.
Following Brown's presentation, board members agreed to consider approving this technology purchase, collectively amounting to $381,500 during their next board meeting.
In other business, Superintendent Ronny Thompson stated in his report that the number of active COVID-19 cases for both students and district employees was down to 14. He added that the drop is significant compared to about a week ago, when the number was in the 30s.
Regarding other financial matters, Thompson said that because of lower interest rates, the district has been able to refinance its Unlimited Tax Refunding Bonds to a point where it could save the district at least $135,000 over the life of the bonds.
Following their meeting, board members went into executive session for about 40 minutes before coming back into open session to approve all staff recommendations.