The first day of school for CCISD students is Thursday, and one parent is worried about how her children will share one laptop to learn remotely.
CCISD has purchased 6,500 Chromebooks to lend to students for the new school year, but laptops currently are limited to one per family.
Jessica Alvarez told KRIS 6 News her children, ranging in ages from 12 to 18 years old, all start school on the same day. Many of them, she said, have to be online at a certain time for attendance, but she’s worried it won’t be possible.
She’s also concerned about her children working on course material on their own time.
“I don’t think it’s going to work that each one of the kids has to log in and check in at a certain time for different classes,” Alvarez said.
She said she reached out to the district to get some advice on how her children can all effectively learn remotely. She was told one child can use the laptop to participate in real-time learning, while the others do the school work and learning on their own time.
“I don’t know how that’s going to accommodate for them, either, if they already need help, and for them to have to do it on their own, I don’t think it’s going to work,” she said.
CCISD has another 8,000 to 12,000 Chromebooks on order. However in a statement, the district says: “Corpus Christi ISD’s current priority is issuing one device per household that indicated a need during the registration process and during spring surveys. Thanks to our board of trustees and generous community supporters, we placed several large orders over the course of the spring and summer. Please understand that, due to worldwide demand, some orders are experiencing delays. We are also loaning campus devices whenever possible. We will continue to work with vendors as well as with our families to meet our district’s technology needs. Once our inventory of devices allows, we will be glad to loan additional devices.”
In the meantime, Alvarez said her children will have to take turns using the laptop.
“I guess once every hour they’ll have to switch off,” she said. “If they have to log in at 5 in the afternoon to do one class, then that’s what will happen.”
Wi-Fi hotspots are also available to students who need them.
