- November 20, 2024
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In May, Volusia County Schools had to send 11,100 student devices to be repaired, causing the district to be 4,000 short by the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
As such, high school seniors will have to wait until early September to receive a computer. In a statement on its website, the district wrote that it anticipates all 12th grade students to be able to check out a computer by Sept. 10. There is no shortage of devices for elementary and middle school students.
"While all grades are important, we determined that 12th grade was the least impacted," the district stated. "Plus, 12th grade students tend to own their own computers at the highest rate compared to other grades. Therefore, we decided to delay the deployment of devices to the 12th grade until the new devices arrive in early September."
Seniors who have an Individualized Education Program Assistive Technology Accommodations and students who are dual-enrolled and don't have their own computer are exempt from the rationing.
The district states the shortage was caused by both the vendor overpromising its capacity to repair devices, and, the large quantity of devices turning in for repair in May. The vendor also repairs devices for other districts, such as Orange County, and those districts also submitted many devices for repair.
The district's vendor is repairing 1,000 devices per week.
VCS also reported that its secondary student computers are four-year-old Dell laptops, and that the manufacturer doesn't readily sell older parts, so the vendor has to put in special orders.
"Plus, as students are issued devices, more students will break them and need another device repair," the district website states. "As repaired devices come in, we will continue to deliver repaired devices to schools."
From Aug. 5-14, the VCS Information Technology System Division delivered 3,209 repaired devices back to schools.
Additionally, the district is in negotiations with another vendor for new devices. Ormond Beach Middle School, Mainland High School, Deltona High School, Galaxy Middle School and Campbell Middle School's devices will all be replaced this school year, and their used devices will be sent to other schools to help with the shortage.
Four years ago, COVID-19 relief dollars helped VCS fund student devices at a one-to-one ratio. The district is now transitioning to a five-year rotating replacement of those devices.
