Keeping up with the latest in technology can sometimes be like trying to hit a moving target, but it’s something the Perry School District makes an effort to do.

To that end, the School Board recently approved the purchase of new Google Chromebooks for students in grades 2, 4, and 7. Superintendent Clark Wicks says the District considered other computers, but decided Chromebooks offered the best combination of durability and user-friendliness. For several years, Perry has had a one-to-one computer to student ratio, and Wicks believes maintaining that and keeping the machines up-to-date is important in today’s day and age. “We feel like it’s keeping up with the needs of kids, the needs of technology, and the needs of our curriculum. A lot of the curriculum that we purchase now is online. So we want to have good, solid, very usable computers so that kids can access that with ease, and then utilize it as part of our curriculum.”

The low bid for the Chromebooks came from CDWG, which has been the school’s computer supplier for the majority of machines currently in use. For $150,000, the provider will supply around 1,500 computers, along with cases and licenses for each. The Chromebooks will be distributed at the beginning of the next school year.