Yes. Full details about the insurance program and instructions on how to purchase insurance can be found here.

Minnetonka Elementary students do not need an Apple IDs for their school iPad. Starting in 6th grade, students are provided a school Apple ID that they will log into on their iPad with the support of their media specialist. Students should not log into their school iPad with a personal Apple ID.

All students in Kindergarten through 12th grade are issued an iPad for educational use as part of our 1:1 iPad program. Students need to use the iPad provided by the District due to app licensing, instructional materials access, and management by our school's network and filters. Every classroom activity that requires technology may be completed on the school-issued device.

At Minnetonka High School, students may use a personal laptop or other personal electronic device before school, after school, at lunch time, during passing time, during open hours, and as a part of senior priviledges. 

Use of personal devices at school must:

• Adhere to District technology policies
• Be used for educational purposes only
• Not create a distraction or disruption to the learning environment

We suggest holding off on buying an external keyboard. From our experience, after a few days of using an iPad, students acclimate to the on-screen keyboard. However, everyone is different and some students may benefit from using an external keyboard. Once students get a feel for how comfortable they are typing on an iPad, you can better decide what works best for their needs.

Using a stylus is a personal preference. Many students have discovered that a finger can be just as precise. Therefore we do not suggest purchasing a stylus until students get a feel for how comfortable they are writing on the iPad so they can decide what works best for their needs. If a stylus is preferred, there are many off brand stylus' that can be purchased for less than $10 that work just as well as a brand name stylus. 

Students use thier Minnetonka Google Apps school account and use Google Drive (educational version) for cloud storage with their iPad.

Yes. The school wireless networks have grown with the program to meet speed and capacity needs. All students may access the wireless network. The wireless network has the same filters the student computer network has and all District Acceptable Use policies apply to use of the wireless network.

Minnetonka teachers have the discretion of allowing or not allowing the use of the district iPad during instructional time based on the purpose with a clear instructional reason. The versatility of the iPad's touch screen and built in keyboard make it an ideal tool for all subjects, from art to Chinese to music to history.

When teachers permit the use of electronic devices, students must adhere to District Technology Policies, use the devices for educational purposes only, and must not cause a distraction or disruption to the learning environment.

Just as there is no cost to students for textbooks unless lost or damaged, there is no cost to students for the iPad unless lost or damaged. An optional insurance program is available.

All Minnetonka School iPads have built-in filtering software blocking access to inappropriate sites regardless of whether the device is at school or off campus. This built-in filter overrides any filtering you may have at home. Many home routers do allow for time limits to be set for network traffic, so parents may choose to do this.

Apple's Screen Time tool makes it much easier to understand your use of technology. This feature enables the user (or parent) to set time limits and block apps, create downtimes for homework/sleep/dinner etc., set up password protection if necessary and more. It also totals time spent in apps, number of times the device is turned on and number of notifications received. (Note that Apple Screen Time can be used on school iPads, but remote monitoring of it will not work from your personal iPhone through Family Sharing like it does to monitor a child's iPhone from a parent's iPhone.)

Parents can setup additional site blocking, such as blocking YouTube if desired, through the iPad's Guided Access and Restrictions or though use of Lightspeed's Parent Portal. 

Children often have complete, unrestricted access to inappropriate sites on other devices such as home computers and personal cell phones. Experts strongly suggest installing software to filter and block inappropriate content on your wireless home network. Read more about filters on our Digital Health & Wellness page.

When technical issues arise, teachers understand and students are not penalized. Media Center staff and classroom teachers are happy to meet individually with students to help troubleshoot technical issues. Occasionally, a student may need to drop off the iPad during the day, but since all work is saved to the cloud, there should be no disruption to accessing work.

An important life skill for students is to learn to save and back-up work (on a desktop or other device). Using cloud storage, students specifically back up their work on the iPad into Google Drive. Students have received instruction on this process and teachers remind students the importance of doing so frequently.