[sanddrag]

Instead of trying to find ways around school policies, why not just get the school on your side. Most school districts install software onto their computers by imaging them anyway. So, tell them to build you regular image (without Novell and all that junk) that you can use for the build season and do whatever you want with it, then after build season when they want their laptop back, they can just reimage it to what it was before. If they are supportive enough to give you laptops, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to make them functional for you.