Way to Go Henrico County!—NOT!!!
Henrico County’s controversy plagued iBook program ended with a stampede and much other near riot acts on Tuesday morning.
For several years, Henrico County had provided all middle and high school students/teachers with an Apple iBook to use in the classroom and for assigments. The program was both praised and ridiculed nationally and around Virginia. It appeared to be very costly to the county and not being managed well. Recently the county switched to PCs and contracted with Dell to provide those notebook computers. Many leftover iBooks that were not purchased at a small price by the student or teacher to which they were assigned ended up in the county’s hands.
Henrico County decided to sell them on a first come, first served, as is basis to county residents for a small fee of $50.00. New the iBooks costed around $1,100 which means if one bought a “good” laptop for $50.00 it would be a great deal. On Tuesday when the gates were opened to the public, a literal stampede occurred and people were very riotous according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch articles.
Henrico County made the great Commonwealth of Virginia the laughing stock of the country for a couple days. Way to Go!—NOT!!!
I could think of better ways to dispose of the iBooks. The RT-D has a great slideshow of the momentous event on this page.
Just as a side note, I myself am not a fan of any Apple Computer product and prefer the PC. I see no practical uses for a Mac. I do see the benefits of providing students with a laptop computer. They are very useful and encourage technology. More school systems should do this, but in a better way than Henrico County has done.