Empire High School

Empire High School, also known as EHS, is a public high school in the Vail Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona. It is the first public high school in the United States to use all-wireless laptop technology and fully digital (no textbooks) curriculum resources.HistoryEmpire opened to students in August 2005 as the first one-to-one laptop, textbook free, comprehensive high school in the nation. Empire graduated its first class in 2007.TechnologyUse of laptopsWhen the school opened in 2005, the school used Apple iBook G4's. In 2007 Apple discontinued the G4's and freshman received MacBook's. In 2010, they switched to HP netbook computers. In 2011, they discontinued using HP netbooks and switched back to Apple MacBooks. In 2013, the freshman class received Google Chromebooks.Filtering softwareWhen the school opened, iPrism filtering software was installed to protect for district liability. However, in 2013, there was a flaw found in the filtering system and the district switched to using Bloxx filtering software.Wireless internetOn the school grounds, the entire campus has been furnished with wireless internet to allow students to access the internet during class. The teachers have a separate Wi-Fi network that allows them to access sites such as YouTube for class use. There is also guest Wi-Fi available for visitors to the school.Teacher blogsTeachers have a blog that they use to communicate with students and their parents to keep them up to date with what is going on in the classroom.