Lawrence schools Superintendent Rick Doll said that 25 additional laptops will be delivered to each of the city’s two high schools in response to concerns some teachers raised that digital textbooks were creating inequity for low-income students.

“We thought we had it covered, but we didn’t,” Doll said at the school board’s meeting on Monday.

The laptops will be available for semester- or year-long checkout for students who are enrolled in classes that rely on digital content, which includes algebra I and advanced placement history at both high schools. The laptops, along with additional textbooks for classroom use, will be delivered Tuesday, Doll said.

“We apologize to teachers and to some parents that had some concerns in that area,” Doll said.

Teachers in those subjects have been using “classroom sets” that consist of 13 textbooks to serve hundreds of students at each school. Doll explained that a miscommunication had occurred when ordering the books, new this year, in which 13 books were ordered per course instead of 13 per section.

“We have already ordered more,” Doll said. “The textbooks will arrive soon.”

About 70 algebra I books that the district already had but not yet delivered will be divided between both high schools, and an additional 40 books have been ordered, which Doll said will bring the student-to-book ratio up to 2-to-1.

As new curriculum is adopted districtwide, more digital textbooks will go into use, and Doll said that necessitates a need for the district to purchase more computers. The district is currently doing an inventory of laptops and tablets in order to determine how many more computers would be needed to bring the student-to-device ratio in the district up to 1-to-1, as well as the cost of doing so.

“I think now, with these digital resources, we indeed have the need and we’ll watch that,” Doll said.

In other business, the school board also voted to approve its yearly goals, a list that includes dozens of topics, including investigating later school start times and increasing time allotted for recess and other physical movement. Ensuring equal access to technology for students both at school and at home is another goal, and the board agreed that investigating a move to a 1-1 ratio would be added to the considerations for that goal.

Also part of the yearly goals, the district will research and issue reports on four topics: the number and intensity of all assessments; history and current status of collaborative mental health programs with Bert Nash; a language magnet elementary program; and high school dropout rates.

The next school board meeting will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 28 in the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.