Falcon School District 49 teachers went back to school early this week to pick up new computers and get training before classes begin next month.

“I’m very excited,” said Michelle Weaver, a fifth grade teacher at Evans International Elementary School, as she picked up her MacBook on Friday.

Teachers started trading in their old laptops on Monday. Several training sessions covered the basics of using the MacBooks, and additional technicians were on hand for those who needed extra help.

About 620 MacBooks were signed out this week, with about 125-150 still to go.

“The goal was to have the tools in their hands by the start of the school year,” said Blake Schwank, chief executive officer of Colorado Computer Support, the company that provides information technology services to the district.

District officials have planned extensive MacBook training after school starts the first week of August.

“It brings autonomy back to the classroom,” said Dave Knoche, Falcon Virtual Academy principal. Teachers will have the freedom to use the MacBooks to best support what they are doing in class, he said.

The D-49 school board approved funding to lease the new MacBooks some time ago, and all instructional staff members in the growing district east of Colorado Springs will have a new MacBook as classes start. Don Begier, executive director for Education Services, said contracts for the existing Dell computers were up for renewal or change, so it was anticipated expenditure.

Normally, this much of an upgrade to technology could take months, but the process was planned and streamlined to expedite the process, Schwank said.

The MacBooks couldn’t come to the district until the new budget took effect in July. When the computers were delivered July 6, they needed to be cataloged and tagged, he said. School administrators got their new computers last week, and the big push started Monday for all other D-49 instructional staff.

The old laptops will be checked out and fixed up before being pushed out to school computer labs and others district uses, replacing even older equipment, Schwank said.—Contact Kristina Iodice: 636-0162 Twitter @GazetteKristina Facebook Kristina Iodice