WCPS does not have enough computers for an effective September Plan B restart

Wayne County Public Schools will not have enough devices to meet the needs of the 7,000 students who have signed up for the district’s state-mandated Virtual Academy and the 10,000 others who are set to return under the state’s Plan B hybrid learning model in September.

But the concern, which was raised by Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Tamara Berman-Ishee Wednesday during the resumption of the Board of Education’s regular monthly meeting, left many wondering how WCPS could pull of an all-remote option in the face of the device shortage any better than it could execute Virtual Academy and Plan B simultaneously.

In a statement provided to the New Old North Thursday, Berman-Ishee explained that “one logistical benefit of Plan C … is that we do not need to provide dedicated devices for every student at school and at home at the same time.”

“We only need to loan devices to those students who need them at home,” she said. “Which we do have the capacity to provide at this time.”

In other words, when schools were shut down in the spring, the district gathered information from families — many of whom said they had desktop computers, iPads or other devices at home that could be used for remote learning, lowering the burden for WCPS.

And because the district only has 8,000 Chromebooks available to be loaned out — and 7,000 students are enrolled in the all-remote Virtual Academy — ensuring technology is also available to those 10,000 operating under Plan B is a problem that will not be solved until October, when new laptops are set to arrive.

“In considering Plan B, even with face-to-face instruction occurring, the assignments and online work being assigned to remote students at home are also being assigned to the students physically at school on those same days,” Berman-Ishee said. “This means, those Chromebooks at home with students will be unavailable at the school itself for other students to use to help complete their assignments in the classroom that same day.”

So, when Board Chairman Chris West asked her for a recommendation on how long schools should operate under Plan C, she said six weeks. After you add on the first few weeks of in-person instruction that would be dedicated less to curriculum and more to safety training, the devices purchased using CARES Act funding should be in. (When asked, Interim Superintendent Dr. James Merrill agreed with Berman-Ishee’s recommendation.)

And when board member Jennifer Strickland made a motion to only operate under Plan C for the first three weeks of school, the assistant superintendent reiterated that the device shortage issue would still be a legitimate concern.

“I would ask you to be mindful of the device problem and the training problem in particular. The device problem will linger if we’re back in two weeks or three weeks,” she said.

The board, by a 4-2 vote — West and board member Patricia Burden voted ‘no’ — dismissed the district’s recommendation.

“Teachers will have to be creative in how they address student needs with the remaining devices or available technology at their school,” Berman-Ishee told the New Old North Thursday. “Note: Just because a student has a computer device at home, does not mean it is a device they can carry with them to and from school to complete their assignments in the classroom (think desktop, smartphone, or a shared laptop that the parent also needs to use).”

During board comments, Dr. Joe Democko — who voted to only move to Plan C for the first three weeks of school — emphasized that should circumstances change, the board could revisit the decision.

“This could all change tomorrow,” he said. “We are malleable.”