On Jan. 1, 2025, the Lexington League of Technology (LLT) partnered with town and school officials to revise the plans for Lexington High School’s new campus. These plans aim to replace every fifth brick of the new school building with an old Chromebook.
“One day, the issue of old school Chromebooks flooding Lexington’s storage units came up during town meeting, and we ended up making the decision to partner with the Lexington League of Technology and use them in the new school building project,” Cam Pooter, a Lexington Town Meeting member, said.
While concerns have arisen about the structural integrity of the Chromebooks, LLT scientists have run experiments, discovering that Chromebooks become 177.5 times stronger in their sealed state.
“Our Chromebooks are truly fascinating works of engineering. Once, my friend flicked my open Chromebook and destroyed its screen, yet I’ve heard rumors of closed Chromebooks falling out of planes and being recovered unscathed,” Mina Taman, a senior at LHS, said.
With inflation on the rise, planning members are desperate to cut down whatever costs they can without sacrificing the quality of the inevitably expensive project. With the sheer amount of Chromebooks distributed to students, the suggested revisions to the building plan are becoming increasingly viable.
“Every student at LHS has a Chromebook. Are they always needed? I don’t think so. By using what resources we already have, the cost for the new school building could be cut down as much as 163 ¾ Bitcoin,” Graham Arlie, a lead designer of the new school building and employee of the month at Coco, said.
The projected lowered costs have been well-received by town residents, some of whom had considered leaving Lexington since the release of primary cost estimates.
“If they had told us sooner that a smart solution like this one was to be used, I wouldn’t have been so stressed to find a new house in a neighboring town. I hope that these people realize how proud we all are to be Lexingtonians, and the last thing we want is to leave. Of course, at the end of the day, if extra tax dollars are being put in when we could just use what we have now, my house will be on the market in the blink of an eye,” Arlie said.
Countless students have expressed their distaste for the durability and practicality of their Chromebooks, many of which cannot stay functional for the whole school year.
“Last year, I think I broke my Chromebook at least twice. Those things are crazy fragile, and extremely slow. I’ll be glad to donate mine. At least they’ll be of use somewhere, not sitting in the storage units throughout the town,” George T. Nav, a junior, said.
As the deadline for a finalized school plan draws near, LLT members are rushing to implement the new revisions, which must first be approved by various town committees.
“I really hope they’ll make this happen. I mean, these Chromebooks have been with us all these years; giving us ChatGPT, games during class, and grainy cameras. What better way to honor that than having each device immortalized in the walls of the new building?” Nav said.
