Early this school year, the students in several Atlantic High School math classes opened their laptops to get on their online math textbooks, only to find the books were no longer in their accounts, and could no longer be accessed.

According to Principal Heather McKay, our yearly license expired. It wasn’t immediately on the radar of the curriculum director James Northwick. Although this didn’t seem to take a large toll on the way the teachers ran their classes, the loss of this online resource was an inconvenience to the students. “They’re really the same thing. All it is a textbook online. If my students prefer the online then that’s what I would go with,” Morgan Staashelm said. “The number one complaint I heard was ‘My backpack is too heavy!’”

Sophomore Bradley Dennis agreed with Staashelm and said he doesn’t like having to carry around the large book. Math teacher Sheila Hayden said, “My students love it. It’s very convenient. You know, my change wasn’t too bad, because typically at the beginning of the school year we have extensive review. So it only affected one of my classes. I just had to send a few more things over e-mail.”

Although the three math teachers Hayden, Staashelm, and Lisa Sonntag agree they care more for “flipping through the pages,” they also agreed the decision is more likely to be made by their students, as the students are more directly affected by it. There are several students who decided the normal textbook is better for them. Several say it’s healthier, easier, and more likely to be there when they need it. According to senior Melanie Hart, “Computers malfunction. Homework is easier to remember. It’s (the book) easier to remember.”

Senior Jiles McCoy agreed with her and said he enjoys having it with him. Junior Chamilla Colton agrees the book is more directly to the point and “it’s less of a distraction.” However, Sonntag disagreed, and said the online book has several resources she uses on a daily basis. “The biggest impact would be that a lot of additional resources are with the online textbook in the teacher’s version. I also don’t have enough textbooks for all the kids in my classes, so I had to improvise,” Sonntag said. McKay said the school has not purchased new books for science and math. “It remains to see with budget cuts whether or not we will have these books next year,” McKay said.