As White Station High School students in Memphis returned to class last month, they noticed something was missing.
Many of the laptops they had relied on for years for schoolwork were gone, and they were asked to use pencil and paper instead. This followed a policy change by Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) to cut technology maintenance costs by ending its one-to-one laptop policy, where each student has one assigned at the start of each school year.
Student Device Rollback
According to an article published by Chalkbeat, White Station Principal Carrye Holland told parents the school would move away from the policy because of a lack of supply.
MSCS Director of Strategic Communications Terrica Thornton said the district currently has more than 300,000 devices but is dealing with increasing equipment maintenance and repair costs. She also said parental concerns across the country about student technology use in the classroom, along with a new state law reducing unnecessary digital screen time for public elementary school students, played a role in the decision…