All sixth graders at Mt. Vernon Junior High now have iPads.
The school gave the students the devices on Monday night as part of a pilot program.
"We're finally really jumping into the 21st century," said sixth grade teacher Tammy Schneider.
"They don't have to lug home a 80-pound backpack," said school principal Kyle Jones.
For a year and a half, Mt. Vernon School officials have been working to put 180 iPads into the hands of 6th graders like Braden Henning.
"I think it's pretty cool. My wife and I have talked the past few years wondering when it was going to get to this point," said father Brock Henning.
On Monday, parents and students learned how to operate the devices.
Sixth graders will now have all their textbooks on iPads and homework will be submitted through the devices electronically.
"It should get students excited about doing their homework because it's innovative and it's new. It's what they are used to," Schneider said.
The iPads use cell tower signals and will have to be left at the school for extended vacations like spring break.
The devices only allow students to see websites that they'd be able to see from school computers.
"We want to make sure kids are safe and using it responsibly. We've got to teach a lot of responsibly. There's things you can get to by accident, but the filtering software is updated constantly," Jones said.
"It sounds like they're engaging parents in the whole process, so I think they've done a pretty good job," Hanning said.
The school hopes to one day all grades will be doing their homework on iPads.
The school paid for the devices through its capital improvement fund. Parents still pay a textbook rental fee. That is going towards software.
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