BHS students in grades 6-12 will receive their Chromebooks during Bear Time today. Matching chargers* and important information are shrink-wrapped to the device.
The information includes details about device care and responsibilities, and how to update the Chrome operating system as needed, as well as a flyer about the greatly expanded online Learning Express Library online resource for homework help, test prep, and exploring careers, colleges and scholarships.
Students need to charge Chromebooks at home and bring them to school every school day. Daily devices are available in the library for those rare times when a student leaves the Chromebook at home or forgets to charge it.
When a student has the device at school, but it's not charged or has a problem, he or she should bring the Chromebook to the library for charging or examination/repair. We will get the student a temporary replacement and back to class as quickly as possible.
Tech Fees
If you have not already paid the annual technology user fee for your student(s), they are due September 1. Online fee payment opens today. There will be a 3% processing fee for credit card payments, and a 50-cent fee for e-checks. If you prefer to pay by cash or check, students must fill out the tech fee envelope, insert the payment, and turn in at the library. Please use one envelope per household. Tech fee envelopes are available at the office, counselor's office, and library.
The $25/student tech fee is adjusted to $10 for students who had free or reduced lunch status last year, and the correct amount due is visible in the parent portal. Important: please do not pay for more than two students per household. Even though the fee will appear on each student's account, we will exempt the third, fourth, etc., student's fees when the first two students' fees are paid. This is a manual process, so it would be helpful to email Mrs. Hayes at carol.hayes@butler.k12.mo.us to flag that this needs to be done.
*Matching Chargers
Each charger is labeled with the matching device name and resource number (R number) that matches the device barcode label.
Students are encouraged to check out daily devices rather than borrowing or lending chargers.
Students are also encouraged to use the colored dot stickers available from their Bear Time teacher or the library to make it easier to quickly identify their own charger. The dot should not cover the school's identifying label.
If the school's identifying label starts to come loose, the student must bring the charger to the library with the label still attached to get a replacement label. (Charger labels are very firmly attached and take effort to remove completely.) We protect your student from anyone else stealing his charger by charging the full lost-charger fine for any charger returned with the label removed.
If your child brings home a device without the matching charger, that means that the fine for a previously lost or ruined charger has not yet been paid. A replacement charger will be issued after the $50 fine is paid in full. Your student may check out a daily device on Wednesday, if needed, while we charge his/her Chromebook in the library. If the student wants a new name label printed that doesn't show the reason why a charger is not issued, they should send an email to Mrs. Hayes and give her a day or two to process those requests before bringing the Chromebook to the library for a new label.
We look forward to a great year of learning in 2023-24!
