Oak Park and River Forest High School students can no longer bring personal laptops or tablets to class.

The school announced on Aug. 19 that all students must use district-provided Chromebooks while at school, according to West Cook News. Personal laptops, iPads, tablets and gaming devices are banned from the school network at any time and must stay home. Exceptions apply for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 Plans requiring specialized assistive technology.

The ban applies in classrooms across the school. But not every student is happy about it.

Senior Austen Frisch, now on his third Chromebook, told The Trapeze, the school's student newspaper, that his device can't keep up with his coursework. He said he dropped the first one, but the next two have not worked well either. Senior Harrison Westmeyer told The Trapeze his Chromebook slows dramatically once he has more than eight tabs open.

Administrators cited safety, equity and distraction reduction as reasons for the policy. Assistant Superintendent of Student Learning Jennifer Hester told The Trapeze that all school applications run through a secure network. Without that network filter, teachers have no way to monitor what students are doing on a computer, according to The Trapeze's reporting.

Equity was another driver. Director of Technology Eric Hackl told The Trapeze that the cost gap between personal devices matters. "Not everybody can afford a $1,000 or $2,000 MacBook Pro or MacBook Air," Hackl said.

Hester said every student now has the same access and opportunity as the person sitting next to them. Instructional Technology Coordinator Joseph Battaglia told The Trapeze that personal devices also caused technical problems with school assessment tools like Formative's lockdown browser and Edpuzzle.

Teachers pushed for the change, too. Hester said the school heard feedback throughout the prior school year that teachers were struggling to manage the mix of personal and school-owned devices on the network.

Hackl acknowledged that physical damage is the biggest challenge in maintaining the Chromebook fleet. He called it "the hardest part of this entire process."

Dean Ellayne Watson told The Trapeze that enforcement follows an escalating process she compared to a "phone home policy." A first violation means a conversation with the student. A second triggers a call home. A third brings a dean into the process, Watson said.

Students with Chromebook problems can visit the helpdesk in Room 1294 or submit a help ticket through the school's website.