Forty thousand students from the San Diego Unified School District will get computers to use at home as they transition to a new way to learn, reports NBC 7’s Rory Devine.
A soft launch for the San Diego Unified School Districts distance learning plan begun Monday morning in what will allow students to finish the school year.
As part of the soft launch, computers and/or internet access will be provided to students who require them and teachers will communicate with students online. Chromebooks will be given students so they can continue with their education and depending on where their homes are, the pickup location for the laptops will be at the following high schools:
- Clairemont
- Crawford
- Hoover
- Lincoln
- Morse
- San Diego High
- Scripps Ranch
For a schedule on when parents can pick up laptops, click here.
The district expects to distribute 40,000 computers over the next three weeks.
Following the period of the soft launch, which will run through April 24, the school district will return to formal grading for traditional schools. As for year-round schools, graded instruction will begin May 11.
“This emergency may change the way we operate, but it will not change who we are as educators or who we are as a district,” Superintendent Cindy Marten said in a statement.
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Students who are in need of Internet are encouraged to contact Cox to sign up for its Connect2Compete program, which offers free installation and internet services for 60 days.
The last day students were in school was March 16. District officials decided to close all campuses in wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Parent Sherice Meads has four children in the district, ages 17, 9, 7 and 5. Meads said it's been tough adjusting to her new role as homeschool teacher.
"It's too much! We're home every day with each other. I enjoy being home with them, but they're ready to go back to school. They ask me every day," she said.
Meads was at Morse High School Tuesday to pick up two computers and is scheduled to come back Wednesday to pick up another so her children can began distance learning.
"I'm not going to lie. I'm nervous because it's completely different than when I was in school," she added. "I'm on Google all the time trying to help."
