Some students are being told in their WJPS classes that the New York Department of Education (DOE) instituted a policy banning personal devices this year. This rule would be bad for most students.
There’s no official reason, but students are being told that the DOE implemented this rule because they don’t want anyone searching up non-school related sites on their laptops and want to monitor them more closely. However, this creates more problems than it solves.
The school laptops are often very slow and sometimes don’t work. Almost any student who has used a school laptop will have a complaint, noting the times these laptops won’t access the WiFi or the lack of speed when visiting a desired website. Using personal computers takes away most of these problems and makes tasks easier.
Because school laptops are slow, it’s more difficult to use the websites that the teachers want students to visit. The result is that less work is done compared to if students were allowed to use their personal computers.
WJPS ninth grader Mikayla Costa said, “I really miss my laptop but I understand why they’re doing it.”
WJPS paraprofessional Ms. Nikki said, “I agree with it because students get sidetracked and the school laptop blocks those sites, now students can focus more on their work.”
