Pascack Valley Regional District has made the decision to allow all returning students to keep their MacBooks over the summer holiday. Within April, the news came out that a mandatory update will take place while students are in English class, enabling them to update computers without them being taken and cleaned off.

This new privilege is thanks to Apple’s software changes. Director of Instructional Technology, Paul Zeller said, “Apple made software available this year that gives the ability to push down those updates and patches remotely without having to take the machine back, wipe it and start over again.”

A mandatory update has taken place within English classes during the week of April 17.

According to Zeller, this update will renew all computers operating systems to 10.11.6, install updated versions of Chrome and other applications, install needed PARCC Nav applications for upcoming state tests, a change in content filters, and will change the wireless network the computers link to.

All student computers should be on Pascack Valley Regional High School District wireless connection, not StudentWifi. Students will all need to log into their security using school emails and continuing their school email use on Chrome. If there is any reason a student must go on a personal email, the Chrome “Incognito” tab will need to be used. This tab is only allowed to be used for Google applications.

Many students are very grateful for this new privilege. Freshman Kiera Bellmer said, “Seeing the lines last year I am happy to not have to go through that again for the next three years. Now I can Facetime my friends all summer long, which is always a plus.”

The privilege is not just for summer ease, but for educational and extracurricular purposes.

Superintendent Erik Gundersen explains in his “News Brief from the Superintendent – April 17, 2017” that end of year instruction will no longer be interrupted because of computer collection, and students will be given the same tools over summer, helping with involvement in both curricular and extracurricular programs. Laptops will now be available for those preparing college applications over vacation, which is an extra plus for those preparing for senior year.

Keeping computers over summer is not the only thing students will have to keep. All students are expected to not take advantage of thc computers, follow all set rules, and take care of the device as well as possible.

Information Technology Specialist, Ross Koehler said,“The same rules apply during the summer months as they would during the school year, if you have a computer problem or a damaged laptop you can bring it to the tech room.”

Lines were painful to stand in for both students and parents. This new policy will cut down on the summer time wait, as only freshmen will need to take the trip down and pick up their MacBook Pro.

Apple replaces all computers every three years, so once the district reaches the year maximum all computers will be traded in to abide by the 1:1 Laptop Program. This will be the only predicted time of collection for all student and teacher computers.

If anything happens to computers, Koehler will be in the tech room from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Friday throughout the summer break.