1:1 Chromebook Deployment FAQs

The 1:1 Chromebook deployment is for students in grades 6-12.

Incoming 6th graders and 9th Graders will receive a Dell Chromebook 5400 in the first week of school during their English period; New 6-12 students who enroll after the first week of school may go to the campus Tech Depot and pick up their assigned device during their first day.

Grades 6-12 will be able to take their devices home each day for academic use.

Yes, students will be allowed and encouraged to take their Chromebooks home for the summer. 

Except 8th graders and Seniors will turn their devices in at the end of the school year.  6th Graders and Freshmen will be given new devices at the start of each year.

Cases are not being issued at this time.

No. The District understands that many students in grades 6-12 may already have a personal device that they bring to school for academic purposes. Although students are free to continue bringing their own devices to school, BYOD is not a substitute for a District-issued Chromebook. All students will be issued a District Chromebook regardless of a student’s preference to use a personal device.  *Students will be required to use district-issued Chromebooks for state testing purposes and when directed by District personnel.

Students may continue to bring their own device and use it when the Chromebook is not required. In an effort to ensure a consistent and equitable teaching and learning experience, the use of the district-issued Chromebook by all students is preferred.

There are some advantages to using the District-provided Chromebooks over their personal device, these are the District-provided device advantages:

Students will be provided a Chromebook and charging cable at the onset of the school year. Each student will need to report any damage and request repair by visiting the campus Tech Depot. In most cases, repairs will be conducted onsite with minimal disruption to the student. If the Chromebook needs to be replaced due to first-time accidental damage or manufacturing defect, there will be no charge to the student. For any intentional damage or subsequent accidental damage, the student will be responsible for the cost of the repair or replacement if the device is not considered to be in acceptable condition. The District is providing an OPTIONAL LTShield Chromebook Protection Plan for $25 per Chromebook per year.

Students are responsible for taking care of their District-issued Chromebook. In the event the Chromebook or AC adapter (charging cable) is damaged or lost, fees will be assessed at the time a repair claim is created, using the fee schedule below. All fees will be available for payment online via RevTrak: https://ltisd.revtrak.net/.

The District is providing an OPTIONAL LTShield Chromebook Protection Plan. For $25 per Chromebook per year, a student’s Chromebook is covered for the following issues:

• Broken glass screen
• Charger port failure
• Theft (with a police report)
• Broken LED/LCD displays
• Accidental damage
• Power surge, fire and flood
• Water damage
• Loss (with a police report)
• Vandalism
• Screen or Touchscreen failure
• Electrical failures

Although not required, the District strongly encourages families to purchase the LTShield Protection Plan for each student’s Chromebook each school year. The $25 fee is less expensive than a Chromebook repair for an unprotected device. For example, in the event a Chromebook is lost, the cost without a protection plan in place and no police report is (LTHS - $604, Middle Schools - $302). Instead, with a protection plan in place, lost Chromebooks with a police report are fully covered by paying for the $25 LTShield Chromebook Protection Plan.

The LTShield Chromebook Protection Plan can be purchased at any time during the school year and only covers completed repair claims made AFTER payment has been received (i.e. coverage is not retroactive and does not cover repairs made/assessed prior to the payment of the LTShield Protection Plan). As a result, families are highly encouraged to purchase the LTShield Protection Plan as soon as it is available via the RevTrak Webstore at https://ltisd.revtrak.net.

The LTShield Chromebook Protection Plan can be purchased at any time during the school year and only covers completed repair claims made AFTER payment has been received (i.e. coverage is not retroactive and does not cover repairs made/assessed prior to the payment of the LTShield Protection Plan). As a result, families are highly encouraged to purchase the LTShield Protection Plan as soon as it is available via the RevTrak Webstore at https://ltisd.revtrak.net/ Select “Other programs and Payments” > Select your school childs school > Select  

Beginning in August, for each family with student(s) in grades 6-12, upon payment for the LTShield Protection Plan, the device issued to the student for whom payment was made, will be covered for one academic school year. 

The LTShield Protection Plan is an annual program that must be renewed each school year. Also, the plan is applied per Chromebook not per family. For example, in order to be fully covered, a family with two students in grades 6-12 would need to purchase two Chromebook Protection Plans, one for each Chromebook.

Whether or not a Chromebook is covered by a LTShield Protection Plan, upon needing repair, students should follow their building’s repair process. If, at the time a Chromebook repair ticket is submitted and the Chromebook is WITHOUT a LTShield Chromebook Protection Plan, a repair fee will be assessed and available for payment online via the RevTrak Webstore at https://ltisd.revtrak.net/.

Whether or not a Chromebook is covered by a Chromebook LTShield Protection Plan, upon needing repair, the student should follow their building repair process. If, at the time a Chromebook repair ticket is submitted and the Chromebook is WITHOUT a the LTShield Protection plan, a $30 repair fee will be assessed and available for payment online via the RevTrak Webstore at https://ltisd.revtrak.net/.  

The Chromebook LTShield Protection Plan may be purchased anytime during the school year and will cover repairs made from the date of payment forward (i.e., coverage is not retroactive and does not cover repairs made/assessed prior to payment of the Chromebook ProTECH Plan).

Although not required, it is financially advantageous for parents/guardians to purchase the protection plan. At a minimum, just one repair of an unprotected Chromebook exceeds the protection plan cost. 

AC adapters (charging cables) are NOT covered by the plan. If this accessory is damaged, lost, or stolen, the student will be charged according to the fee schedule regardless of whether or not a protection plan was purchased. These fees will be made available for payment online via the RevTrak Webstore at https://ltisd.revtrak.net/.

Damage to a Chromebook that is determined by building administration to be intentional, is excluded from LTShield Protection Plan coverage. For any intentional damage or subsequent accidental damage, the student will be responsible for the cost of the repair or replacement if the device is not considered to be in acceptable condition.

Each student or parent is responsible for maintaining and/or returning all District-provided electronic devices in acceptable condition. Per Board Policy CMD(LEGAL), electronic materials are considered to be in acceptable condition if all components or applications that are a part of the electronic instructional materials are returned; the electronic materials perform as they did when they were new; the electronic instructional materials do not contain a bug, virus, worm or malware; and the electronic instructional materials have not been installed with plug-ins, snap-ins, or add-ins without the prior approval of the district. Failure to return the devices in an acceptable condition will result in a charge or fee for repairing or replacing the device. Waiver of any fees imposed will be processed in accordance with FP(LEGAL) and (LOCAL).

The Chromebook LTShield Protection Plan is an annual program that must be renewed each school year. Also, the plan is applied per Chromebook not per family. For example, in order to be fully covered, a family with two students in grades 6-12 would need to purchase two Chromebook LTShield Protection Plan—one for each Chromebook.

Students will initiate the Chromebook repair process by opening a Vizr Help Desk request. Generally speaking, there will be a means for students to log a repair ticket and receive a loaner Chromebook while their device is being repaired.

Each campus will have a "Tech Depot" service desk to assist with repair and replacements.

LTHS Tech Depot - RM K100 8:10am - 8:50am & Genius Hour

BCMS Tech Depot - RM 503  8:10am - 8:50am & Go time

LTMS Tech Depot - RM 503 8:10am - 8:50am & Go time

HBMS Tech Depot - RM 762 8:10am - 8:50am & Go time

If a Chromebook is stolen, the family should notify building administration and school security personnel. A police report will be required to formally document the theft and receive a replacement Chromebook. School security personnel can assist with this process.

Yes. All 1:1 Chromebooks will be subject to the same filtering rules both off and on campus. Although no web content filtering system is ever 100% effective, the software used by the District provides protection against inappropriate web content that meets federal Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requirements.

No loaners are available, the student is responsible for bringing their device fully charged each day.

No. In all elementary buildings, each K-5 classroom is equipped with a classroom set of Chromebooks, which are stored, secured and charged in the classroom. The goal is to provide flexibility of creating a 1:Learning environment on an as-needed basis. These devices are assigned to the classroom, and the teacher will assign them to individual students for daily onsite individual use. All Chromebooks for use by students in Grades K-5 will remain at school. 

Chromebook guidelines can be found here in our Chromebook Handbook .

There are a number of locations in the area that offer free Internet access. One such location is your public library, and we plan to partner with other establishments throughout the community to create “student-friendly” spaces, wherein WiFi will be available at no cost. Even without Internet access, Chromebooks still have the ability to use the traditional Google tools offline, such as writing in Google Docs and preparing presentations in Google Slides. Chromebooks also have a feature that enables students to download work ahead of time so they can work offline.

Students will not be able to load editing software onto the District-provided Chromebooks. Inherently, Chromebooks are designed to work with software that is cloud-based and that does not require a client installation. For students enrolled in classes that require editing software, the High School will maintain computer labs with the appropriate software. In addition, if a student chooses to use a personal device, they are free to do so and are required to bring their district-provided Chromebook with them each day.

As District-managed devices, additional extensions cannot be loaded onto student Chromebooks. Screen time is indeed an important topic and one that does not have a one-size-fits-all solution. On a related note, in terms of online safety, the District Chromebooks will have Internet content filtering in place on and off campus. Finally, screen time on a District Chromebook may also be managed in a more deliberate/physical way rather than relying on software. Chromebooks will need to be charged each night and, to accomplish this, a routine will need to be developed by students. By establishing a defined charging time and location at home, students will not only ensure a fully charged device but also limit their overall time on the device.

Yes. District Chromebooks will be on a four-year replacement cycle and new devices will be issued to students in Grade 6 and Grade 9. The table below summarizes device life cycle through the 2020-2032 school year. As the table depicts, in the school year 2022-2023 the student device assignment will be fully established on a four-year rotation. Until that time, devices that are collected before the scheduled four year end-of-life date will be assessed for damage, repaired, and re-deployed to buildings or used as spare devices. Also, in 2020-2021, students in Grades 6,7, and 8 will be issued used District devices. They will then receive new devices in Grade 9.

Students who bring personal devices to school may continue to do so; however, district-provided Chromebooks must be brought to school, fully charged, every day.

District-provided Chromebooks:

• Will have the highest priority in terms of support and network access
• Are the devices teachers expect and plan for when preparing lessons and assignments
• Must be used for all online assessments—no exceptions

The same internet content filter that is in place on district devices used on district premise will be in place on student Chromebooks—on and off campus.

One goal of the one-to-one initiative is to level the playing field and provide a consistent technology experience in the classroom. As a result, the one-to-one Chromebook deployment may reduce the need for students to use cellphones in class. That said, this is more of a classroom management and building policy/expectations question than a technical one.

The student’s name will not appear on the Chromebook. The Chromebook is inventory and allocated based on the device service tag on the bottom of the Chromebook. At any time, this tag may be scanned by IT staff or library staff to determine to which student it belongs.

The District agrees. There is no replacement for sound teacher pedagogy. No matter what tool is introduced into the classroom, nothing can or should replace the expertise and guidance of the teacher. In addition, teacher pedagogy is an evolving process that can and should leverage available technology to enhance the learning experience. This is not to say that the district strives toward a completely immersive and virtual classroom for our students. Instead, the aim is to provide teachers with sound professional learning so they are able to determine ways to integrate technology to support and expand their already sound teaching practices. Educational technology, in any form, is a tool that can help build and create engaging lessons and allow students to learn and show what they know in unique ways. Much like a  hammer alone builds nothing until it is picked up and used by a skilled craftsman, classroom technology benefits no one until it is in the hands of skilled LT teachers.    

What may seem as ‘forcing’ is, instead, a need to create an equal playing field in the classroom. When teachers utilize technology in their daily instruction, it is imperative that each student not only has access but also the same tech access and experience. It is very difficult to plan a lesson when there is a heterogeneous mix of devices (or none at all) used by students. A mix of MacBooks, cell phones, Windows laptops, and no devices creates a classroom technology scenario that can be difficult to manage, troubleshoot, and to prepare.  

Students will be expected to bring their fully charged district-provided Chromebook with them every day much like other school supplies and textbooks.

The district is cognizant of the other district’s locally and nationally that have had less than desirable one-to-one results. In addition, the Technology team also drew from positive one-to-one experiences in order to help shape the district’s plan. In the end, the district realizes that no plan, especially of the scope necessary to encompass a one-to-one roll out, is ever perfect in its first version. There will be bumps along the way and the Technology team will continue to meet throughout next school year to review feedback and refine the guidelines and procedures accordingly.  

There are available options for students without internet access at home. Lake Travis is fortunate to provide with the Bee Cave Public Library and the Lake Travis Public Library to not only provide internet connectivity but also a wealth of other resources and supports for students and adults.

Chromebooks can work in offline mode. In offline mode a student would not have access to the Internet and could still work on files stored in their Lake Travis Google Drive. Once an internet connection is reestablished, the Chromebook will sync data on the device to Google Drive.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020, Lake Travis ISD deployed an internet hotspot check out program for those in need of access. This program will continue on a limited basis as needed for students to check out a mobile internet hotspot free of charge from the Technology Department.  

As with any district-owned technology device, student Chromebooks will be subject to internet content filtering (on and off campus), remote device administration of device software, as well as the ability to geo-locate the device if necessary. The district does not actively ‘watch’ students but, instead, utilizes these tools to prevent access to inappropriate online content, assist in recovery of a lost or stolen device, ensure devices are running the latest software versions, and to assist with troubleshooting.

A computer alone should not ever be considered a replacement for quality teaching. In fact, the only way technology is useful is when it is integrated into an already strong pedagogy. Chromebooks or any instructional technology should not be viewed as a replacement for faculty but, instead, as a way to engage students in the learning process in new and exciting ways.  

The infusion of technology-based tools into teaching and learning is not a new phenomenon. The chalkboard and the pencil were both considered ‘revolutionary’ at some point. In fact, the progression toward using new and varied instructional tools is not new to Lake Travis.