For the 2025-2026 school year, the USD 497 School Board made the decision to switch from iPads to MacBooks for the two high schools, having the middle schools still use iPads. Despite having used MacBooks in years prior, students across the district have used iPads for the past two school years.

Graphic Design teacher Chastity Romero-Latham said that she prefers the MacBooks because they better prepare students for future careers. For her graphic design and drawing classes, Romero-Latham requests that her students have access to both an iPad and a MacBook, and the students can then utilize both to create art.

Although Romero-Latham finds it convenient to have access to both MacBooks and iPads, English teacher Keri Austin-Janousek said that she prefers MacBooks because her students see the feedback on their writing in fewer clicks.

“With the iPads, it was a little mysterious trying to find the feedback and it was multiple clicks,” Austin-Janousek said.

Because of the difference in software between the MacBooks and iPads, as the Google apps are different, Austin-Janousek said some of her lesson plans differ with MacBooks.

“[Students] will put together a writing portfolio at the end of the year, which I think is a little more meaningful than a final exam,” Austin-Janousek said.

IT specialist Braxton Taylor worked at Free State for the past two years and worked at Southwest Middle School in the years prior. Taylor said that there has been a learning curve with the MacBooks, as many of the students have not used them before.

In addition, the district has implemented a policy where if a student breaks their MacBook, they have to use an iPad for two weeks while their MacBooks gets repaired. Taylor said that iPads are more durable; however, some websites and software that do not run on an iPad do run on a MacBook.

“The MacBooks are better in the fact that they are more powerful machines,” Taylor said.