Starting Wednesday, September 14 laptops will slowly be distributed to students enrolled in select programs such as, ESOL, AVID and SAM. The laptops will be issued to all students in the program and will be in their possession for the entirety of the year.

The distribution of laptops are aimed at helping to enrich learning and productivity, as well to give equal opportunities to all students.

“This is an FCPS initiative, similar to the Chantilly Pyramid” technology specialist Jennifer Cory said. The Chantilly pyramid is a program in which all students from schools that filter into Chantilly high school will receive a laptop, kindergartners through seniors.

“[Annandale] a part of phase one [of the chantilly pyramid] and there are five schools in the county that got the grant from the state. We qualified for the grant from the state because of our ESOL and free and reduced lunch populations, and so our laptops are coming from the state but it’s being rolled into this ‘FCPS on’ program,” Cory said. [‘FCPS on’ is an] FCPS initiative by Dr. Karen Garza and through the strategic plan, which is called ignite, she has made it clear that she wants to make sure every student in Fairfax County gets a laptop because it supports the learning that they’ve identified they want to do based on the portrait of a graduate.”

Students will return their computers at the conclusion of the 2016-17 school year and can plan on having the same computer issued to them for the remainder of their time at Annandale.

“[Laptops have] never been kept over the summertime before” Cory said. “The plan as of now is that [students] will turn in their laptop at the end of the year and they will receive that same exact laptop the following year.”

Of course risks come with giving free laptops out to high school students so before any computers are distributed students and their parents are required to sign a liability form.

“If [a computer is broken the student] is responsible for the fee to replace it and if it is stolen then a police report is filed” Cory said.

The liability form also clarifies that the laptops sole purpose is for school related work and not for personal use and any breach in the agreement of the contract can result in ramifications.

The program is expected to be a success and deeply enrich the learning process at Annandale.