Jan 21, 2015 By David Singer 2 min read

Come March, first and second grade students will take home one of the 525 iPad Air tablets that the South Fayette School Board voted to lease for at least four years at the Jan. 21 workshop meeting. The cost of $249,600 would be paid with 2006 bond monies that weren’t spent as the district held off on construction, according to superintendent Dr. Billie Rondinelli.

“What about third grade?” asked board member Len Fornella regarding the caveat that students would have to give back the tablets.

“We have devices in those grades, we just don’t have a one-to-one match yet,” Rondinelli said.

The elementary students would then use the iPads to replace a lot of paper materials, and according to primary school principal Laurie Gray, students are already giving presentations with them. Parents would have to pay 25 dollars insurance on the tablets.

Also in technology, the board voted to approve $35,000 in funding from Digital Promise to start a robotics program at the Intermediate and Middle Schools.

In other business, representatives from P.J. Eckles Architecture presented an updated timeline for school expansion construction, saying by the Feb. 24 meeting, a schedule would be presented with a bid-out date for builders likely slated for August.

The board also saw new sample uniforms for band and football, voting to authorize the advertisement of bids.

Athletic Director Mark Keener appealed the board to have lacrosse added as a club sport starting in spring 2016. The board could vote on the proposal at its Jan. 27 regular voting meeting. South Fayette township presently has club teams, but the district does not.

The board is set to vote on preliminary budgets for 2015-16 on Feb. 17.