School school districts are having trouble getting laptops and tablets in the hands of students, as the start of the fall semester inches closer. That comes amid shipping and fulfillment backlogs born of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The devices are meant to ensure access to education while students learn from home — all or some of the time.
Peoria County Regional Superintendent of Schools Beth Crider said many districts are actually in decent shape and have enough devices stocked to meet the need.
"A lot of them placed orders early on because we heard there was going to be a run on Chromebooks [for example] and they were going to be hard to get — and that is proving to be very true for anyone that's trying to order now," Crider said. "Anyone that ordered in March or April are on delay."
Crider said the Princeville School District received all of the devices it ordered, then sold it's old computers to another superintendent, who called the move a "life saving event."
Other districts may have to push back the first day of school to wait for contingencies to come together, she said. Peoria Public Schools, for example, moved its start date to Aug. 24 to give more time to prepare after deciding to move to full remote learning earlier this week.
Crider said ensuring access to devices for students carries different weight in different districts.
"It drastically impacts kids that live in communities of poverty," she said. "Certain districts have the ability to pivot to remote learning without worrying about this conversation. Do they want to provide the device? Of course they do, and they want it to be a Chromebook from the school. But they're not as worried as Peoria Public Schools, who's dealing with a higher percentage of students who don't have access."
But Crider said none of these challenges were unexpected and superintendents are taking them in stride.
Administrators and school staff have also been meeting frequently with the Peoria City/County Health Department to field concerns about returning to the classroom. Crider said one question keeps coming up.
"What do we do when we have a sick child?" she said. "Because you know it's going to happen in the first week. A teacher, a child — someone's going to get sick. It may not be COVID. But what do we do, what are the procedures, what are the protocols?"
The Illinois Department of Public Health put out guidance on that question this week.
Crider said parents can rest assured that school administrators are doing all they can to keep students safe this semester — rigorously setting up entry and exit points, mapping one-way directions on school floors, stocking up on masks and cleaning supplies, etc.
"I've never seen a group of people work this hard," Crider said. "To really try to put students' safety at the front, but yet try to help them learn — it's overwhelming."
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