LINDEN &8212; Students of Linden City Schools will be more technologically advanced at the end of the upcoming school year is the hopes of administrators through programs approved to be implemented into the school system next year.

The Linden City Board of Education approved the implementation of a technology initiative for Classrooms of the Future and the Linden High School Laptop Initiative.

The Classrooms for the Future initiative is designed for each core classroom for the grades third through twelfth.

The initiative includes: a digital projector and screen, an interactive digital school pad, 32 student class pack personal response systems, a document camera, a high speed/capacity network laser printer, a dedicated classroom PC/notebook and necessary cablings, mounts, conduit/panduit for installation of the technology equipment.

The personal response system will come as a pack of 32, Collier said, which should be ample for each student in a classroom.

Collier said training for the equipment and programs including in the initiative will be held this summer for the teachers as well as some students.

The laptop initiative will be implemented for the eleventh and twelfth grade advanced students. With this program each student on the advanced diploma track will receive a laptop computer with three-year accidental damage protection. The initiative also includes: a backpack for each laptop computer, a charging system for each core classroom and 63 external laptop rechargeable batteries for use with laptops during the school day, a wireless access point for each core classroom, replacement of current inadequate student desks with new student desks adequate for use with laptop computers, software necessary for implementation and initiative and necessary cabling and other conduit/panduit for installation of wireless network throughout the school.

Collier said there are 40-50 students in the advanced diploma track.

The laptop will allow students the opportunity to do assignments for classes on the laptops and it is a training ground for the future, Collier said.

Collier said all of the laptops will have accidental damage protection and the administrators will have a meeting with the students and their parents to assure they have some stake in the protection of the laptops and to discuss the care needs for them.