HARFORD COUNTY, MD — There are not enough devices for all students in Harford County Public Schools to be equipped with school system-provided laptops before the start of the school year, officials announced Friday. The first day of school is Tuesday, Sept. 8.
All students in grades 4 through 12 will be able to have a device, Superintendent Sean Bulson said in a video message Friday, Aug. 28.
Students in kindergarten through third grade will begin the school year without a device if they do not already have one.
"For families with children who can't participate in the live online learning schedule for any reason, we have developed asynchronous instruction options, too," Bulson said. "We will provide additional information in the form of a Parent Academy video on Monday on the HCPS Together webpage. For those families who requested asynchronous learning in their intentions form, we'll be reaching out directly with more information and instructions early next week."
Delayed devices are expected to arrive by mid-October, Bulson said.
"While this is not what we had planned for, I feel encouraged our schools are determined to find a solution," Bulson said.
Previously, Harford County Public Schools said every teacher and student from kindergarten through grade 12 will have a device.
Kids from kindergarten through 9th grade were supposed to get Chromebooks, while those in grades 9 to 12 were to receive Microsoft laptops.
During the school board's Aug. 10 meeting, Bulson said 27,000 Chromebooks were ordered, and many had not been delivered. About 13,000 were supposed to be coming the third week in August, he said, and the school system would be short more than 14,000.
This is the text of the video above:
As we look to start the 2020-2021 school year, I want to thank you for your engagement, support, and continuing advocacy for our all of our students.
As a community, we have faced many challenges through COVID-19, but through it all, we have planned for the eventual return of students. One of the greatest challenges is the continuously changing environment- both locally and nationally. In May, ahead of many other districts across the country, we ordered enough devices to ensure each student would have one to start the school year. Through the spring and summer, we were reassured by our vendor we'd have enough for all students to start the school year. But, we've seen during this pandemic that supply lines on everything have had unexpected delays. It wasn't long ago that a shortage of paper towels and other essentials were affecting all of our lives!
At our August 10 Board meeting, I announced we would not receive all of the ordered devices in time; we would be 15,000 short. To the understandable frustration of many, we've now made 3 central appeals to our community, not to mention those made by individual schools, to fill out surveys in an effort to help us secure enough devices for every student. While we have sent these appeals asking the community to opt-out of accepting school system devices, it hasn't yielded enough. We've scoured the schools to come up with devices, but they're too old and we cannot get enough of them in working condition.
So, we are at a point now where we have to finalize virtual learning plans- you need to know how we are moving forward. You need to know how your child will receive virtual instruction beginning the first day of school, on September 8. As a result of our device shortage, we will be distributing HCPS devices to all students in Grades 4 through 12 who have not opted out.
We will not be able to provide students in kindergarten through grade 3 with an HCPS device prior to the start of the school year. While this is not what we had planned for, I feel encouraged our schools are determined to find a solution.
Despite the lack of devices, it is essential that every teacher will still be delivering live, online instruction from kindergarten through grade 12 for any student who can access it. For families with children who can't participate in the live online learning schedule for any reason, we have developed asynchronous instruction options, too. We will provide additional information in the form of a Parent Academy video on Monday on the HCPS Together webpage. For those families who requested asynchronous learning in their intentions form, we'll be reaching out directly with more information and instructions early next week.
Elementary schools are still distributing textbooks and other materials of instruction from September 1 through September 4 for students at all grade levels. If your student does not have access to a device to start the school year, please communicate that information when you go to the school to pick up your other instructional materials.
Our Chromebook supplier has indicated the delayed devices will arrive by mid-October; we're cautiously optimistic. Between now and then, we will give any functioning device we can get our hands on, to the schools to provide to the students who need them most.
We know the pandemic is still impacting our lives in many different ways, but we will get through this, HCPS Together.
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