This Fort Greene Title I School is in Desperate Need of New Laptops

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — The middle school students of Fort Greene Prep Academy have been using 7-year-old, clunky, heavy, HP Pro-Book laptops in school this year, their teacher, Saranii Muller, told Patch. During each class, at least 10 out of 40 minutes are taken away from the kids just to troubleshoot the malfunctioning laptops, Muller said.

"When something isn't working and we're in the middle of a lesson, you know, a glitch, a bug, a whole host of things go wrong, and the kids get really frustrated."

When Muller heard that Google was matching donations for Chromebooks on DonorsChoose.org, she immediately set up an online fundraising page to help her students get brand new Chromebooks this holiday season.

The Fort Greene Prep Academy, a Title I school at 100 Clermont Ave., just got fast new wifi installed in the building, Muller said. But the kids can't get the full benefit of it with their old laptops. The students have been doing research on the Internet for their social studies projects, because Fort Greene Prep Academy has no physical library. But the Internet cuts in and out on their 2010 Pro-Books, Muller told Patch.

The laptops' batteries are also shot, and they have to be constantly plugged in. That creates a maze of extension cords in the classroom, which kids trip over and which present a potential fire hazard.

Chromebooks are a good solution because they are sleek, fast, they stay charged for a long time, and they have all the programs Muller's students need with no added frills, she said.

"I teach technology, so it's pretty important for my class to have working technology."

Fort Greene Prep Academy already has 31 Chromebooks from a district grant Muller won last year, but that's just 31 Chromebooks for a whopping 240 students. Muller is asking for donations for 28 more Chromebooks. Each Chromebook costs $246.88, and for every donation, Google will match the donors' amount as part of its holiday fundraising initiative.

"Wouldn't you feel more valued if what you had worked? I know I would," Muller wrote on her fundraising page. "Help my kids feel valued and help fund our Chromebooks!"

Photo credit: Fort Greene Prep Academy