We believe the Isle of Wight County School Board took a big leap forward by agreeing to lease iPads for students and teachers at Windsor and Smithfield high schools.

The school district will get 2,000 tablet computers for $446,000 annually for three years and can buy them back at the end of the term for $1 each or trade them in for newer models.

We feel it’s important that students and teachers be allowed to embrace this technology and commend the board. Technology is all around us and it should be an integral part of the education system.

The switch from textbooks, which cost around $65, to e-books, which run $14, should be a cost savings; however, even Board Chairman Robert Eley admits it’s more about the technology than cost.

The students will be allowed to take the equipment home to do homework. We feel there should be a stiff, iron-clad agreement in place between parents and the system to deal with any damage or loss to the tablets. That’s the only way this program will be mutually beneficial.