All students to receive Chromebooks next year
At the opening of the 2021-2022 school year, Elementary 1:1 will become permanent, putting Chromebooks in the hands of all elementary school students.
“Until then, we will still provide devices to Home Connect and virtual instruction students through our existing program,” Technology Operations Executive Director Dwayne Alton said via email.
There are currently 33,278 students enrolled in kindergarten through fifth grade who will receive newer devices.
“The students will have access to devices for all of their classes, instead of having to share mobile computer labs,” he said. “They will be available when/wherever needed for instructional purposes.”
Alton said during a Monday workshop the Information Services Department has had a very interesting year as they did the COVID shuffle. He said as a division they eat, sleep and breath operational efficiencies and, with COVID, they saw some opportunities to push forward some initiatives that had already begun implementation, or were going to start.
“We had to make sure people could work and learn from home,” he said with the greatest challenge at the elementary level, which is why the one-to-one program will become permanent.
The focus was discussed because the district wants to make sure that elementary schools students are at the same level with using technology as secondary students.
“We did not have a one-to-one program where elementary students took devices home,” Alton said.
The district took its aging fleet of devices and put them in service during COVID. All of those devices will be removed when the new program comes into place.
“We are using the COVID situation as an opportunity,” Alton said of making the program permanent.
District spokesperson Rob Spicker said pre-COVID-19 pandemic, the district had a ratio of 1.5 Chromebooks for every elementary student, which kept the laptops in the classroom and shared by students. He said with the switch to distance learning in the spring, it required the district to get Chromebooks to all the students at home, and, with Lee Home Connect, thousands of elementary students also needed to keep them.
“Both moves also pushed more elementary educational tools online,” Spicker said in an email. “With a 1:1 ratio of Chromebooks for elementary, then we could issue a Chromebook to elementary students just like our middle and high schoolers take home with them every day to help with homework, assignments and individual learning.”
The district was also able to provide a solution for the digital divide.
“The digital divide is very real in 2021,” he said. “We knew quite a few students did not have internet, or devices at home. We were a little shocked how many employees did not have technology at home as well.”
The district implemented hot spot programs, as T-Mobile provided some equipment and connectivity at home for homework.
Alton explained that when COVID began, they tried partnering with local community organizations and providers, but found they were lacking in areas. The district had a relationship with T-Mobile and knew they had some incentive programs to bring in mobile hot spots for staff and students who did not have reliable internet at home, he said.
Alton said some of their peers in the state of Florida are right up there with them in terms of the digital divide. The state that has the most people in school is further ahead in working the digital divide.
As far as capital projects, Alton said with students and teachers out of the classroom during last year’s fourth quarter and over the summer they had empty classrooms to work in and accelerate some programs.
One of those projects was implementing a full district telephone system. What started as a three-year project quickly moved to a two-year project, so the district could have those savings with an uncertain future with tax revenue.