Jordan Public Schools are about to get a little more computer friendly.

The Jordan School Board voted this week to begin a three-year lease of 65 new computers. The lease is the first step in a plan proposed to the board by the district’s technology committee.

The first year of the plan calls for a commitment of $35,631.60 from the district. The money will be used to pay for one year of the three-year computer lease, as well as several auxiliary technology costs. Those extra costs include servers and additional memory for the computers already in the district.

The cost is about what the district has spent on technology in past years, said Superintendent Kirk Nelson after meeting with Superintendent Larry Kauzlarich. It’s time for the district to upgrade its computers, some of which are seven years old, Nelson said.

The plan will replace 65 computers in the high school. The computers replaced will be sent to other sites throughout the three schools, with the best computers placed where students will use them most.

If the board decides not to continue with the proposed district turnover plan next year, they will still be locked into paying about $11,000 per year for the next two years through the computer-leasing program.

The turnover plan is just a small part of a much larger district plan for technology, said tech committee member Craig Albers. The district tech plan, which is still being finalized, will hopefully address some of the concerns from the board.

The agreement to begin the turnover plan wasn’t without questions, though.

The big picture that the school board wants to see with this spending is how the technology is being used in the classroom – “to see that teachers are using it and the students are getting a better education because of it,” board member Jim Donna said.

Evaluation of teachers’ use of technology is part of the proposed tech plan, Albers said.