Lawrence school district officials have recommended approval of a plan to issue iPads to every middle school student, but a similar rollout for the high school level has been put on hold.

Every Lawrence middle school student could be issued an iPad next school year as part of the school district’s effort to improve its student-to-device ratio. But an effort to ensure equal access at the high schools has been postponed another year.

“We won’t solve everything at the high schools next year,” said Superintendent Rick Doll on Monday to members of the school board, who are preparing to vote on a technology plan. “But hopefully, if we take a breath, take a year, we’ll come closer to getting it right. And so, yeah, kids for a year might not have all the access they need.”

Over the past five years, the district has been ramping up the use of digital texts and resources districtwide. After another two high school subjects began using digital texts this school year, teachers raised concerns about students who don’t have reliable access to computers or Internet at home.

At the board’s meeting Monday, district officials gave an overview of their proposal to ensure equal access. They recommended that the Lawrence school board approve a plan to issue iPads to every middle school student, which is about 2,400 students. Discussion originally included a similar rollout for the high school level as well, but district officials said more consideration is needed to determine which devices — iPads or laptops — are best for those students.

Doll acknowledged that board members have been pressured by high school teachers to act, but he said more time is needed to make a decision about which device is best at the high school level.

“I know the board has been appropriately lobbied and informed by high school teachers,” Doll said. “You can’t have it all, so we want to wait and we want to think more clearly about this to make sure.”

In the meantime, more paper copies of textbooks were made available and a laptop and Wi-Fi hotspot checkout program was initiated at the high schools. The checkout programs have maintained waiting lists, and students and librarians recently urged the board to increase the number of devices for checkout. Though going 1-to-1 at the high school level is being postponed, when board members asked about expanding the checkout program, district officials said it is still possible for next year.

“It is in the budget, we would be able to do that,” said Jerri Kemble, assistant superintendent of educational programs and technology. “We could certainly increase that number, and we’re also promoting more blended learning environments, but we could certainly increase the number of checkout devices in the libraries as well.”

The board approved the district’s capital improvement plan for the 2016-2017 school year on Monday, which includes $965,000 to purchase devices. District officials previously said that between $500,000 and $600,000 of the purchases will go toward purchasing technology for additional “blended learning” classrooms. The remainder of the funds will be available to purchase other devices throughout the district.

The iPads for the middle schools will be paid for from a separate pool of funds: $850,000 that is allocated in the capital improvement plan toward technology leases. Even though the board approved the overall capital improvement plan, any purchases over $20,000 still have to be individually approved.

As far as the decision to provide iPads as opposed to laptops to every middle school student, Kemble said that in addition to being less expensive, iPads are easily loaded with educational apps and can be automatically synched with class materials. But a few board members voiced skepticism that was the right choice, and wanted to see more comparative data.

“(The presentation) didn’t really give me a good sense of why it’s better; it felt a little more like a commercial,” said board member Jessica Beeson.

School board President Vanessa Sanburn later said that the school board has requested more data from district officials comparing the advantages of iPads to laptops before it has to make its decision to approve the technology purchase proposal.

“I do think board members want some more specific information about why that’s the right choice, and some comparisons for why that’s a better choice than options that other districts have had success with,” Sanburn said.

More than 75 other Kansas school districts have already initiated 1-to-1 programs, and Kemble said district officials will be visiting nearby districts to gather feedback to inform the future proposal of which devices to use at the high schools. Sanburn said she thinks the topic needs to be studied further before the board can come to a conclusion about what is best.

“We don’t want to just give devices to give devices,” she said. “We want to give devices that are going to be purposeful, that are going to help with particular education objectives.”

The technology proposal was developed in response to the board’s goal to ensure equitable access to technology at school and at home for students. Sanburn said she thinks even if the equity goal isn’t met next year, access can still be increased.

“As a board member, I’m very motivated to make sure that especially students that are enrolled in classes that utilize primarily electronic textbooks or that kind of thing, that they have access to what they need in order to be able to succeed in those classes,” she said.

The final technology proposal will be presented to the board on March 21, at which time board members will vote on whether to approve it.