By Angela Hatton
Paducah, KY – Students at McCracken County high schools will likely be using laptops instead of textbooks for some of their classes next year. The school system recently wrapped up the first of a four year program in which students from the three high schools received laptops. School board chairman Neil Archer says next year students will use online textbooks for some math classes. Archer predicts within four years, the laptops will eliminate the need for printed textbooks in the high schools. The Paducah Sun reports an outside consulting service studied the program. Consultants' recommendations for next year included more training on valid Internet research and increasing the number of technical staff available to answer questions. Last summer, McCracken County school officials purchased over 2,000 laptops. The program costs $600,000 each year for four years.