approved a plan Wednesday night to partner with Milwaukee PC to provide laptops for students of the district-run virtual school, eAchieve Academy.
Families would work directly with , freeing the district from laptop distribution and servicing.
eAchieve would reimbursement Milwaukee PC $400 for each laptop they provide. Assuming enrollment of 800 students and 20 percent attrition, the cost to the district would be $288,000 in 2012-13 and 2013-14. The estimated cost is in-line with budget projections, according to the district.
The district tried to work out an agreement with Best Buy and then looked at another company, according to Joseph Como, chairman of the board’s finance committee, but neither of those worked out. Milwaukee PC, on the other hand, has been “extremely accommodating” and their prices were very competitive, according to Como.
“The other thing I like best about this plan is the people who know computers best, Milwaukee PC in this case, are going to be the ones the families will buy the computers from, will get their support from… all of these are things that we don’t have to worry about as a school district,” Como said. “I think it’s a very efficient way to handle us taking over the technology side of things.”
Milwaukee PC has 22 locations throughout the state.
