Student Digital Devices during COVID

The pandemic has impacted the number of damaged or missing student issued devices…

Recently the Citrus County School District had an unusual increased number of damaged and unreturned student issued devices/iPads following the spring COVID remote learning period. Because it is such a complex issue, I wanted to take the time to try and answer some of the questions and concerns people have had about this.

In a typical school year, Citrus Schools has averaged about 10% or less of damaged or lost iPads. That is about the national average for damage or lost percentages for one-to-one student’s device deployment. One-to-one is the term used to provide students with a digital device. From August 2019 through March 2020 of the 2019-2020 school year, Citrus was on track to average about 10% damage or lost iPads. Then in mid-March 2020, Citrus County Schools along with schools across the state of Florida were required to close brick and mortar schooling and move to remote learning as a result of COVID. When the school year ended, and the new 2020-2021 school year began it was estimated that the percentage of damaged and lost iPads from March 2020 through July 2020 had over twice the percentage of damaged or lost student devices.

Citrus County Schools is not unique in this situation. School districts around the state are seeing very similar much higher than normal percentage of damaged or lost student devices.  While not desirable it isn’t surprising as school districts were required to provide essential remote learning tools for students to be successful during this pandemic crisis of distance learning. What was different was when students move to total remote learning it meant many of the daily and weekly monitoring processes for student devices that were developed for brick and mortar teaching and that have been successful at mitigating devices’ damages and losses could not be implemented during the period of remote learning. We also have had a number of families relocating in our county, state, and nation and therefore those students and those devices became even more challenging to track.

While this has been a challenge it is also important to know that these essential learning tools for our students where available because Citrus County has been a leader in the state of ensuring students have had the necessary learning tools to be successful. While other districts were scrambling to fund, purchase, and roll out students’ devices during the pandemic to ensure the continuity of instruction and learning, Citrus was not.  Citrus County Schools were more easily able to quickly move to distance learning because each of our students already had a school-issued iPad thanks to our county’s foresight in planning and infrastructure.

Does the school district know how many devices were damaged or how many you have purchased?

The school district has a very sophisticated Multi-Device-Management system commonly referred to as an MDM that has a comprehensive device accounting and tracking system. It tracks not only the iPad itself but can also disable the device essentially making it non-usable. The MDM can send the last coordinates to the school district who can then file a report with law enforcement. The Apple Corporation can also be notified so that the device cannot be reassigned to a new owner. In addition, the MDM tracks unauthorized apps that are installed, the device’s location, and the network traffic of the devices. The MDM provides detailed reports of the iPads it manages.

Just like with textbooks, damaged or missing iPads cannot be noted unless the student or their family reports it to the school or unless a school staff member realizes there is an issue.  When a student is attending brick and mortar schools the device check-in process is done in person regularly so damaged/missing devices can be noted and addressed immediately. In remote learning such as we had this past spring that was a far more challenging process and one that our school administrative teams have had to spent significate time tracking down these devices.

Are you holding the parents responsible? Aren’t their criminal ramifications? Can parents get device insurance?

We do hold parents responsible. Whether a device is broken or goes missing altogether, many resources and time are spent at the classroom, school, and district level. There are legal options, but not criminal options, that the school boards have and will continue to use in order to recover the devices or costs. We have also asked our school board attorney to explore additional legal options as well. The challenge for school districts like any business is when the collection efforts and cost of those man-hours exceeds the losses. This is often the case.

They are also state and national student rights and legal requirements that the School District must meet when providing for the academic needs of students. For example, you cannot deny a student their education by not providing them with the curriculum. You cannot make the curriculum conditional in a public school setting. This further limits the legal options that school districts have.  We do at times have to provide a non-device curriculum for students that have lost or damaged their devices. This is made more complex during COVID should a family choose a virtual option for school where a student device would be required.

The school district offers through a third-party company low-cost iPad insurance for $24 a school year. This insurance covers the total cost of damage or loss to the student assigned iPad.  We offer the insurance to all families and promote the insurance through phone calls and emails home, through social media, and school newsletters.  Unfortunately, less than 2% of families took advantage of the low-cost insurance.

Traditional textbooks are much cheaper than student issued devices. And why don’t use stronger protective cases?

One would think that that is the case, but it just simply is not, especially for textbooks at the secondary level. Several years ago, textbook publishers revised their purchasing and distribution models to be more of an annual user license. This includes access to their digital content as well as an increasing number of disposable workbooks which must be then replenished and replaced each year as part of their textbook contract. It is not uncommon to have textbooks that are $50-$80 each for five or more classes totaling the cost of a digital device. If the digital device is lost the textbook materials are then just reinstalled and are not lost altogether. This is not necessarily the case when a book is lost.  In addition, digital textbooks are updated more often and included a plethora of multiple-media learning opportunities to better engage our students to help them be more successful.

A couple of years back Citrus County Schools transitioned the iPad cases used from a bulkier cover to a slimmer cover. When the new cases were considered we questioned they wouldn’t be as protective. Apple suggested this designed case and assured us we would be pleasantly surprised. We have been surprised because while these cases might not appear as strong these newer cases have percentage-wise been more protective in mitigating screen damage than the bulkier cases. These cases also lasted longer and hold up better than the previous ones.

You just need to go back to paper-pencil!

Industry after industry has stressed the vital importance of having our students’ college and career ready in order to be successful in their post-secondary school life. Even the most entry-level positions today require that the job application be filled out either on a tablet or online. The basic skills to operate a fast food cash register exceed what most people grew up doing on the computer. Mobile technology is the primary use of computers in the workplace today; for example, hospital custodians use tablets to receive their work orders, emergency responders use devices in almost every aspect of their work, the medical profession has devices imbedded into every aspect of their field, and small businesses rely on technology in operations and management. Our post-secondary students will use devices and software like the district’s new learning management system, Canvas in most of their post-secondary courses and studies. It is essential that students are proficient in the use of technology if they are to be successful and employable adults.

Aren’t there cheaper devices out there? Let’s use those!

Citrus County Schools staff believes that the current student iPads we are using are the best cost-effective device, both in terms of lease/purchase cost and repair cost. Just this week once again the Educational Technology Department reviewed different device cost options and felt the iPads were again the lesser cost option.  From the beginning of the State mandate transitioning from print to digital curriculums, Citrus County School District has had a number of committees and task forces made up of a wide cross-section of educators, staff, and leaders that have reviewed the best student and staff devices. They look at things like durability for large student take-home deployment, ease of use, restoring operating system capabilities, the cost to limit educational appropriate traffic to and from the devices, and much more. Over the years a number of student devices were developed. Some very low-cost devices are not compatible hardware or memory is not enough to run the curriculum and applications the schools must run. In the end, across the nation two student devices have risen to the top of most school student deployments: the Apple iPad and Google Chrome books. Both iPads and Chrome books have advantages and disadvantages, and both run approximately the same cost per unit for student deployment. It is important to understand the difference between consumer devices and commercial deployed devices. These are devices designed for wide deployment and that can withstand the daily expected use.  Both have repair cost challenges. The Chrome book has some additional repair cost challenges due to the clamshell hinge breakage and potential damage to the keyboard which can make their repair costs more challenging for districts. There are some additional advantages with the iPad’s interface, compatibility with existing district software applications, and broader education software options. There would also be additional considerations if the district changed platforms such as retraining staff and students, application, and software compatibility issues, which would involve additional costs that would need to be considered. Citrus County Schools will continue to monitor and review what is the best student device for our students. If a change in the future is warranted, I am confident that will be done. In the end, whether Citrus County Schools today provided student’s devices as iPads or Chrome books, it would not change the need to replace these devices.

For full disclosure, no one in my family owns nor have we ever owned Apple, Google, Dell or other technology hardware stocks. Nor do I receive any other monetary benefit from these or other technology companies. I personally purchased my own Dell laptop and I personally purchased my own iPad and iPhone.

Citrus has done this without additional taxes.

This initiative has been vital and Citrus County has done a tremendous job with providing these essential learning tools to students. Many districts around the state have additional tax referendums and tax increases in order to fund and sustain these initiatives. Citrus County has done this without those additional taxes. It has not been easy, but I am grateful that our Superintendent and fellow School Board members have continued to see how important these educational devices are to our students’ success both academically and in their future careers.

This initiative has been vital to our Citrus County student’s future and that of our community, state, and nation.

Citrus County Schools has been committed and embraced digital learning for over seven years now and digital integration of textbooks, gradebooks, classroom and take homework had already become a regular part of learning for our students in Citrus County Schools long before COVID. This has put Citrus County students in a far stronger position than many school districts in Florida and around our nation. In November 2014, the U.S. Department of Education said, “Citrus County is earning high marks from State officials, students, and teachers for ensuring that technology is actually transforming teaching and learning.” Then in August 2016, then Florida Educational Commissioner Pam Stewart speaking to all Citrus County Schools teachers on August 1st, 2016. Stewart shared that day, “What you’re going to do today (in Citrus County Schools), in regards to digital learning, is really incredible, and I can tell you, it’s probably not happening across the state in very many places.” This positive success doesn’t happen by accident, it takes commitment on behalf of our School Board, Superintendent and executive team, education leadership teams, our school administrators, and most especially our teachers and the hard work they are doing each and every school day.

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