The St. Clair Catholic District School Board held its third deployment of technology devices on Wednesday, April 29, 2020.
More than 180 devices were distributed at 21 schools across the district.
School board officials say Wednesday’s deployment brings to more than 1,800 the number of Chromebooks and Special Education devices distributed to families.
As was the case at the two previous deployments, devices were distributed according to a procedure that has been approved by the Medical Officers of Health for Lambton and Chatham-Kent, which includes a self-assessment for anyone attending the deployment sites, and a method of distribution designed to safeguard the health and safety of staff and families attending the schools to collect the devices.
“We are confident following this third deployment that every family in our Board has access to technology, so that all students can participate in teacher led at home distance learning,” stated Deb Crawford, director of education, in a press release.
School board officials say in addition to the devices, over the past several days 43 donated iPhones have been delivered by courier to families who did not previously have access to the internet through wifi in the home.
The personal ‘hotspot’ feature of the iPhones, which were donated by staff and school community members, can be used to create a wifi field to run devices for distance learning.
In addition, through an agreement with the Walpole Island First Nation, Board staff were permitted to install a mobile data hotspot at the Heritage Centre.
Families can drive to the Centre and from the safety of their vehicles, download work using a wifi field created by the mobile data hotspot.
When the class work is completed they can return to the Centre and use the wifi field once again to submit the work online.
“This is an innovative solution for our families on Walpole Island,” Crawford said.
“I want to express my great appreciation to our Information Services staff and our friends and partners on Walpole Island for helping us make this work.”
The Board believes everyone who has expressed a need for technology has been contacted and received the technology they required. However, anyone who still has a need is asked to contact their school principal.
For the latest updates from St. Clair Catholic, please visit Newsdesk at www.st-clair.net
