The Brighton Area Schools Board of Education has approved the purchase of 255 Chromebooks for use by students at Scranton Middle School and Brighton High School at a cost of about $56,000. The purchase - approved at the school board meeting Wednesday night - also includes management licenses for the devices, plus seven storage carts.

The Chromebooks are being purchased for use in the district’s world language pilot program, an initiative led by Hornung Elementary Principal Jack Yates, in collaboration with Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Laura Surrey.

Gray says although the Chromebooks will belong to the district, students will be able to check them out and take them home for special assignments. There are 2,000 Chromebooks already in use at Scranton and the high school, and the 255 new ones will be additions, and not replacements. They are expected to be available for use by students at the start of the 2018-19 school year. The new Chromebooks are needed because textbooks are no longer available for the World Language program and the courses are now only accessible online. (TT)