All students in Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District will have their own electronic device thanks to a grant from Mississippi Department of Education and a unanimous vote Tuesday from the SOCSD Board of Trustees at a special-call meeting.
The state Legislature passed the Equity in Distance Learning Act in June, authorizing the use of $150 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds to provide every student in the state with a laptop or tablet, since many students are learning remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SOCSD will use its existing supply of iPads for grades pre-K through 1 and use the grant money to buy 4,200 Chromebooks for grades 2-12 and 500 laptops for teachers, said Leanne Long, SOCSD’s director of instructional technology and distance learning.
“For pre-K through first grade, they have a really hard time using a Chromebook because it has a keyboard,” Long said. “We have enough iPads in the district not to have to buy more of those.”
EDLA will provide $1.6 million through the grant, and SOCSD will shoulder a $600,000 match, for a total of $2.2 million.
EDLA’s other priorities for Mississippi schools besides access to devices include learning management systems and access to broadband internet, Long said.
Three virtual learning tools — Canvas, Zoom and Clever — experienced nationwide outages Monday and posed difficulties for SOCSD on its first day of school. Long said Canvas was still having problems with uploading and downloading documents on Tuesday.
EDLA will help the district provide wireless connectivity to rural parts of the county, Long said, but the amount of funding for the endeavor has not been determined. In the meantime, SOCSD hopes to create more Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the county, possibly in collaboration with 4-County Electric Power Association, she said.
Amanda Tullos, the SOCSD community and parent liaison, said the district plans to park its Wi-Fi-capable buses at rural churches once its bus routes are determined. This could take some time because the number of students in the different learning environments SOCSD offers is still fluid, with several switching from virtual to traditional in just the first two days of school, Tullos said.
“From what I’m hearing, it’s not because of internet connectivity, it’s because (of) the ability at home to help support and sustain that child’s learning,” Tullos said. “The parent may need to go to work, or (children) may be staying with a grandparent that’s unsure of how to support, so families are changing their minds to come back to traditional learning.”
Another determining factor might be the number of devices being used in one place at the same time, Board President Debra Prince said.
Additionally, the board amended the Fiscal Year 2021 budget to include the final allocation of $23,264,907 in MAEP (Mississippi Adequate Education Program) funds from the state Legislature. The budget that the board approved earlier this month included $22,879,257, about a 2 percent decrease from last year.
Chief Financial Officer Tammie McGarr said the final amount is still less than last year’s allocation of $23,609,554.
Legislators said earlier this year that because of costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, districts may have to supplement state funds with reserves.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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