Students at Old Rochester Regional High School are already making good use of 345 Chromebook laptops recently purchased by the district.

The school will pay $266 for each laptop over the course of a three year lease.

“They absolutely love working with them daily,” said social studies teacher Michael Linane. “We’ve gone to zero paper in the classroom.”

Students have used the computers for one week.

“Students are engaged. So far, so great,” said Spanish teacher Carla Cafarella.

Using computers in the classroom is much easier than reserving the computer lab, which often doesn’t fit an entire class, she said. The computers have also made it easier for students to do makeup work.

“The only limitation is students’ access at home to finish assignments,” Cafarella said. “If the goal is to have one to one devices, I would say that’s a laudable goal.”

Principal Mike Devoll said computer-based homework assignments can be difficult for some kids.

“If you’ve got one laptop and four kids who need to do homework, that’s a challenge, but one were taking on,” he said.

Going forward the district does plan to add more computers with the goal of eventually having one for each student.