Ann Arbor Public Schools switched to individual student MacBook Airs for the 2025-26 school year, replacing the previous COVID-era,  school-issued Chromebooks with costlier, more advanced devices.

With this $6 million investment, AAPS Executive Director of Technology Heather Kellstrom said she hopes students will take accountability for their new technology. “Ready access to a high-quality device is an important part of preparing high school students for life in the modern, global society,” said Kellstrom.

The switch to MacBooks came as some surprise to students, some of whom say they believe the update to be unnecessary. Pioneer senior Emma Martinez says that the new policy is a bad one. “The old Chromebooks were working well enough,” she said. “Everything is similar.”

Whether these devices will survive in the hands of students is another issue. Martinez says she’s skeptical after the abuse she observed with the Chromebooks. “There is a large possibility that people will be breaking the MacBooks sooner rather than later,” she said.

District officials have said that the MacBook roll out was an academic equity issue, because students with fewer resources had to rely on the outdated Chromebooks while more well off students could buy their own Mac computers. The computers were purchased with technology bond funds the community voted on several years ago. The approximate cost was $1400 per computer, compared to about $200 for the Chromebooks.

AAPS required all students to sign the Contract for Student Equipment Loan Agreement and the Technology Acceptable Use Policy upon receiving their devices. “Students may have up to two (2) repair incidents per year (July 1st to June 30th) with the AAPS Apple Warranty Program at no cost,” says the agreement.

Pioneer Math teacher Mr. Hansen says that the MacBooks are a necessary upgrade. “Many of the Chromebooks had become defective and were perceived as ‘lower-end’ devices,” he said, leading to students bringing in home computers (that are more difficult to monitor), as well as lacking accountability and respect for the Chromebooks.

AAPS also issued a large digital guide for the new MacBooks and their tools, including help with Finder, Freeform, Apple Intelligence, and Photos applications. Although these guides were distributed throughout the district, Pioneer senior Gabriella Jordan-Galarza says they’re too long to be worth reading. “I knew I was never going to use that,” she says.

Hansen is supportive of the new tools. “I’d be interested in expanding Securly,” he says, “or an equivalent app that allows teachers to monitor student computer usage.”