Thanks to a grant from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Peoria Unified School District will be able to provide a laptop to every student in kindergarten through 12th-grade for school use during the 2022-23 school year. This initiative is made possible by the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) to help schools provide tools and services during the COVID-19 emergency period. Peoria Unified applied for these funds and the district was able to purchase nearly 30,000 laptops for student use.
Peoria Unified’s Information Management and Technology (IMT) Department received the first shipment of laptops in February and worked throughout the summer to prepare the laptops for Peoria Unified students for the start of the 2022-23 school year.
“Our IMT Department has been hard at work since February imaging and preparing laptops so that students can use them this fall at the start of the school year,” says Director of IMT Network Operations Mike Treguboff. “We are excited for all students in kindergarten through 12th-grade to use these laptops and have access to resources they may not have otherwise.”
To put into perspective how much work the district’s IMT Department put into this laptop implementation, each laptop takes approximately two hours to image and make ready for student use. This equals to about 60,000 total hours of the IMT Department’s time to ensure all Peoria Unified students receive equitable access to technology.
Students in younger grade levels may keep their assigned laptops at the school site to be checked out during the school day whereas older students will be able to bring their laptops home each evening to continue their schoolwork. Schools will be communicating that process to the appropriate grade levels this fall.
The implementation of district-wide laptops is part of the district’s four-part Strategic Reset Plan, falling under the Student Success and Stewardship of Resources perspective that ensures all students receive the resources they need to be successful.
For more information about the Peoria Unified’s Strategic Plan, visit the district’s website at peoriaunified.org/strategicplan.
