Following the news that Maine’s iBook program would not be expanded into high schools this fall, the administration of John Baldacci quickly came up with a new plan to get the laptops to some ninth-graders. “Under the proposal, Apple is considering renting laptops to school districts that want them for high schools this fall, and payments would be deferred for a year, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said,” reports AP. “Gendron hopes Apple’s fee would be the same low rate negotiated when more than 30,000 laptops were distributed to middle schools. The tentative plan came together quickly during behind-the-scenes negotiations between representatives of Apple and the state Education Department a day earlier in Augusta.”
