Georgia schools say Apple's peachy

Apple Computer is on the verge of securing one of its biggest education deals ever, with a Georgia school district leaning toward purchasing tens of thousands of Mac laptops.

The Cobb County School District, located in the Atlanta suburbs, is recommending that its school board pursue a deal with Apple to equip all teachers in the county, along with all high school and middle school students, with Apple laptops. The school district is recommending that the board implement the laptop purchase in stages, with the first phase consisting of giving laptops to teachers and to four schools on a test basis, according to a statement posted on the district's Web site.

Details of the proposal will be discussed at a meeting Wednesday, with the board slated to vote on the first phase of the Apple deal next month.

"Apple is thrilled to work with Cobb County on this ambitious proposal to create the largest 1 to 1 computer learning initiative ever," an Apple representative told CNET News.com Tuesday. "We've seen remarkable results from 1 to 1 learning programs and find that the educational benefits reach far beyond the classroom."

Once king of the education market, Apple has lost ground to a number of Windows-based rivals, especially Dell. In recent years, Apple has focused much of its attention on so-called one-to-one deals, in which school systems buy laptops for every student in a particular grade. The company has scored large deals in Maine and Virginia, among other places.

Apple has said its efforts are paying off, although competition remains tough. Last month, the company noted that it had its best December quarter for education sales in seven years. The company said its total revenue was up 20 percent from a year earlier, while unit sales were up 11 percent. Higher education sales grew faster, at 25 percent, but K-12 grew 15 percent, amid strong demand for both the iMac and iBook.

Something else you should know

Were this article to focus on just about any other school district in the country, it might add some credibility to Apple's new successes in equiping education. However, a school district embroiled in a legal battle to keep stickers on science textbooks stating that evolution is just a theory for the purpose of giving equal consideration to creationism is hardly a qualified or reputable reference for Apple's technology. Perhaps the Cobb county school district will see fit to put stickers on their Mac's, too. I can imagine what they'll say.

Cobb County ibooks

Way to go Cobb. Sounds like the administrators and school
board members are really getting innovative.... Apple is the right
choice for this. PC laptops cannot even come close to what a
Mac can do in this environment. and... oh ... by the way...
Evolution is just a theory!

[curtsrca]

Cobb County iBooks

>>oh ... by the way... Evolution is just a theory!

No more so than the Theory of Gravitation, yet we don't give
equal time to the "There is no gravity, the Earth sucks!"
conjecture.