DENVER — With the new school year set to begin next with virtual learning, the Denver Public School District (DPS) said it's dealing with a nationwide tech shortage and is prioritizing students most in need.
"A challenge we are encountering is a nationwide shortage of devices," said Susana Cordova, superintendent for DPS. "We are asking families, if you have a device, a personal device that your students can use that would enable to participate in video conferencing and you also have a school-provided device, we'd appreciated if you could return the school device and use the personal device to all our technology to reach more students."
Cordova said they've ordered 10,000 devices and that they were slowing trickling in. The district is focusing on new students and those in lower-income areas but said they believe they'll be able to meet the demand.
Families also have an option to purchase a device if they choose. Cordova said any Chromebook with at least 4GB memory would work and said the district uses the Lenovo 300. She stressed that purchasing a device is not required.
She urged families to check their setups before Monday morning to make sure that everything works properly and reminded everyone that free or low cost internet is available for families that are eligible for free or reduced lunches through Comcast's Internet Essentials program.
The district, which is the largest in the state, pushed back its start date to Aug. 24 and announced plans to start with remote learning and continue it through at least the end of the first quarter which ends in mid-October.
Following a week of training, this week the district's K-12 teachers will connect with students and plan for remote learning before instruction begins on Monday.
Cordova said they're still in the process of figuring out exactly how things will work when classes resume for in-person learning. She said families still have time to select the 100% online option or in-person but said most staff members had already made their selections.
"For our school-based employees, just under 700 teachers who had requested accommodations, 32 principals and about 400 other people that work in schools," Cordova said.
Those numbers are from about a week ago so could have changed slightly since then.
Cordova also addressed some of the reasons that other districts might be opening for in-person learning while DPS is not. She noted, one big reason is the heat and lack of air conditioning in many schools.
"Due to COVID-19 we are unable to use many of the cooling mechanisms we've used historically in the past," she said. "We knew, that even as we think about what a safe return would like, we would want to wait past the hottest heat of August."
DPS has said previously that it was working to bring back small groups of students "identified as high-priority for in-person learning" as soon as Sept. 8.
High-priority students were identified as those who require special learning, students who use English as a second language and younger students in kindergarten or below. Cordova said last week that plans for that had not yet been finalized.
Cordova said during last week's briefing that they're looking into creating learning centers where students would be able to do remote learning from inside school buildings. It's something that the Adams 12 School District already has in the works and Cordova said her district was talking with officials from that district about their plans.
"Small groups of students would be able to come in, meet with the teachers virtually, but in a safe proctored environment," Cordova said. "We definitely understand both the challenge for working parents to support their children if they are working, the need for safe spaces for kids, the need for reliable internet at times so that's something we are in the process of developing."
On Wednesday, Cordova said they're in the "final stages" of planning how to make those learning centers happen safely. They hope to provide an exact start date for that soon.
The district hosted a telephone town hall Tuesday night for elementary students and it hosting a second call Wednesday evening for secondary students.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Local stories from 9NEWS