Kershaw County (WLTX) -- iPads are usually a must-have item. But Kershaw County High Schools are looking to give them the boot.
"It really takes you away from being a pencil/paper teacher, yourself, to going out and being more of a facilitator," Camden High School teacher Genie Wallace said.
Wallace has been a science teacher at Camden High School for 19 years and has seen the positive side of technology in schools. But having students with iPads, netbooks, and laptops can be a bit overwhelming.
"You have kids that have the laptops and the netbooks that can access this way and then you have the other ones that have the iPads which access this way," Wallace said.
Camden High School Principal Dan Matthews has been involved in the testing of getting a new device to replace the iPads.
The school district will be voting in two weeks on if they should provide students with the HP ElitePad 900.
"After a year we had some concerns on the productivity side considering our students were already used to some of the productivity software that Windows provides moving back toward that Windows platform as opposed to the iPad platform," Matthews said.
For Wallace's class, the varying platforms have been getting in the way of lesson plans. But the new tablet seems to fix that problem.
"It looks like it's a good blend of both especially if we can get the apps and get the Java on the same machine," Wallace said.
"We no longer have a digital divide between the haves and the have-nots. Everybody has access to the same technology. It's a game changer," Matthews said.
The iPads will be going to the district's elementary and middle school students. The cost of the HP ElitePads will not come from taxpayer dollars.