VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Virginia Beach School Board approved a revised Chromebook policy Tuesday, two weeks after members initially voted on changes affecting the division's youngest students.
The board first approved the policy on June 8, limiting Chromebook use in prekindergarten through second grade classrooms. Under that plan, prekindergarten and kindergarten students would not have access to Chromebooks, first-grade classrooms would have sets of 10 devices, and second-grade students would receive individual Chromebooks that could not be taken home.
However, the board revisited the issue Tuesday after two school board members moved to rescind their previous votes and reconsider the policy.
The revised policy removes Chromebooks entirely from first-grade classrooms. Under the new guidelines, students in prekindergarten through first grade will not use Chromebooks. Second-grade students will continue to receive individual Chromebooks, but they will not be permitted to take the devices home. Chromebook policies for students in third through fifth grade remain unchanged.
"Now the policy is pre-K through first grade are not going to have Chromebooks," District 7 School Board member Matt Cummings said. "Then second grade will have Chromebooks, but they won't go home, and everything else will be proceeding as normal."
The policy includes exemptions for students with individualized education programs, or IEPs, and English language learners.
Cummings said some parents have expressed concerns about how the policy could affect English language learners who rely on technology to access instructional materials.
"A lot of our English-learning kids, when they are in the classroom, are able to learn the curriculum in their native language as they are learning English," Cummings said. "That's only accessible through a Chromebook."
The revised policy will take effect at the start of the upcoming school year.
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