PEABODY — Think of this as school supply list 2.0.
Added to fifth-graders' typical academic fare of three-ring binders and colored pencils this fall is the "thumb drive," a computer storage device also known as a flash drive.
"This keeps them on the cutting edge," Burke School Principal Judith McNiff said. "This makes them feel good about themselves."
It's the first time the flash drive has made it onto Peabody's supply list, and the device is a novelty among North Shore school systems so far. Administrators in Beverly, Danvers and Salem said they have never asked students to purchase flash drives.
The price of the devices has dropped lately, but the least costly run about $10, according to several store Web sites.
The flash drive landed on the school supply this year at the request of teachers, South School Principal Maryellen McGrath said.
Once teachers make suggestions, the principals collectively agree on what appears on the lists, she said.
Superintendent C. Milton Burnett said many students are already using thumb drives. He stressed that the district's fall school supply lists are simply suggestions to parents.
The superintendent said all fifth-graders should be able to use their flash drives at the district's eight elementary schools.
Peabody's Brown and Carroll elementary schools opened in 2004 with new computer labs.
Two years ago, the remaining elementary schools had their computer labs upgraded with at least 28 stations.
In a flash
The reasons to have the flash drives are myriad, principals said. They allow for easy transfer of data, keep students up with technology and help them organize their documents.
McNiff said educators are always looking for a way to connect school and home.
"Parents can see the work that (students) are presently working on," she said. "It's great to have parents involved in student work."
The decision to include it also fits in with the state's guidelines, which ask districts to introduce students to new technology, she said.
"They are going to use this for the rest of their lives," McNiff said.
Fifth-graders at the South, for example, create a portfolio of their work throughout the year. Having the drive will let students keep all their computer-generated documents like poetry and writing samples in one place, McGrath said.
Students who don't get them will still be able to store their projects on school computers, she said.
McGrath noted that the flash drive is just "an upgraded version of the diskette."
"We are always trying to keep up with technology in school," she said.
At West School, students start making computer-generated slide shows in third grade.
"This way (students) can put their own individual program on their own thumb drive," Principal Susan Cassidy said. "We thought fifth grade was the way to start."
McCarthy School parent Jeanette Serino said she thought it was a good idea to use the technology. Her son Alec Serino will start fifth grade this fall.
"I think it would be a benefit," she said. "I just think in middle school they're going to be doing things like that. Why not start in the fifth grade?"
Serino said some parents might object, but others will be willing to donate extra supplies like the thumb drive for students who don't have them.
"I think Peabody needs to get more into the technology and not less," she said.
Parents need not worry about pesky computer viruses. Burnett said the district's computers have regularly updated anti-virus software to combat any problems when transferring data between computers and networks.
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