[May 15, 2013] Henrico schools won't sell old laptops Tweet May 15, 2013 (Richmond Times-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- There won't be any danger this year of a repeat of the 2005 laptop mayhem in Henrico County. School officials said this week they won't be offering old computers for sale when the high school computers are replaced this summer. "We're prohibited from selling it to a student or staff or the public," Henrico schools Superintendent Patrick J. Russo said Monday evening during a community meeting at the Fairfield Area Library. Russo said the "best of the best" of the old computers will be refurbished for use in the middle schools. "As things break, we can use them down there," Russo said. In August 2005, chaos erupted at the Richmond Raceway Complex when the school system offered 1,000 used iBook laptops for sale for $50 each. More than 5,000 people showed up and several were injured in a stampede after the gates opened. Last week, the Henrico School Board approved a $17.6 million contract with Dell Inc., for almost 19,000 new computers as part of its one-to-one laptop program. The old laptops will be collected on the last day of school in June and the new laptops are expected to arrive in time for the next school year. In one of his first public speaking engagements after the contentious laptop issue was finalized, Russo again acknowledged that school officials made an "error" by awarding the new contract without warning at the end of its April 25 meeting. He also revealed a few new details about the decision. Four laptop vendors -- Dell, Apple, HP and CDW-G -- made oral presentations to Henrico schools officials. The high school one-to-one program started with Apple and eventually moved to Dell. In the bids for the new contract, Russo said, Apple's bid was "almost twice as much" as the one from Dell. "There's just no way through a public process of going through a [request for proposals], which is what we did through the county, that we can turn around and spend another $4 million a year on Apples because they're the preferred computer," Russo said. Russo said the Apple laptops at the middle school level are scheduled to come up for replacement next year. [email protected] (804) 649-6839 ___ (c)2013 the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Va.) Visit the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Va.) at www.timesdispatch.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]