The West Essex Board of Education approved next year’s budget, which includes new Chromebooks for incoming 7th and incoming 10th graders, as well as renovations in both buildings on April 24.

Chromebooks will be kept on a three year refresh cycle, with 7th and 10th graders getting them every year. According to a report from Tap Into West Essex, the budget also includes new band uniforms and internal servers for the school. The server upgrades will take place over the summer, but will have nothing to do with the Chromebooks. The new budget is also allowing the school to create a new course for next year in Digital Photography. All of the district’s current staff, courses and clubs will remain intact.

Chromebooks will be taken from 9th and 12th graders at the end of each year and redistributed to 7th and 10th graders in September. The New HP Chromebooks have a protection plan included, which means that the new laptops will be sent to HP for repairs, while the old Acers will be repaired in-house.

“The new HP Chromebooks will also have a protection plan that will allow for a quick turnaround time if we need to send them out,” said Scott Burrows, the technology supervisor for the district.

The new repair process will hopefully allow repairs to be quicker so students can have their Chromebooks back as soon as possible. Burrows says that the board plans to use the old Chromebooks for replacement parts and loaners.

News of the Chromebook replacements has some students excited for the possibilities new tech could offer.

“I believe that this update will benefit us, as the current Chromebooks often have issues and limit our learning experience,” freshman Abby Haenggi said.

“I think it is a very good plan because our Chromebooks are falling apart all the time and new ones will help that,” freshman Wyatt Moskal said.

On the other hand, some students believe the replacement plan is either flawed or insufficient.

“Upperclassmen deserve new Chromebooks as well,” junior Matthew Mierzwa said.

“A new Chromebook would be nice, but it is not a necessity right now,” freshman Nicholas Beyer said. “I think the school can purchase different things for $300,000 that can benefit students and teachers.”

“If they are planning to go completely online then you should invest in better computers,” junior Ellie Decker said. “They can’t spend extra money to get new good computers for everyone?”

In other expenditures, more than $500,000 was also approved by the board for renovations to the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms in the middle school. Renovations in both buildings are scheduled for the summer of this year, and should be done by the time school starts in September. $200,000 of the new budget will also be used to replace LED lights and ceilings in the middle school and to repaint the parking lot.