Coronavirus Times: Broward, Miami-Dade School Districts Distribute Laptops For Online Learning
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - Thousands of laptops were handed out at schools across Broward County, a lifeline for public school students to continue learning through the coronavirus crisis.
In order to receive a loaner laptop, parents or guardians had to sign up for going to a school to pick it up.
"We just went inside, filled out the paperwork and got it done," said one mom at Walter C. Young Middle School.
Within a couple of hours Friday morning, the school district had given out ten thousand of the free devices.
"We are prepared to deliver over 90-thousand of these devices by the end of the day," said Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie. "They were purchased through taxpayer money, taxpayers who passed our Smart Bond Referendum which allowed us to reduce our computer to student ratio."
Broward schools are technically on spring break. So the week after next, the learning will be online.
"You'll go to BrowardSchools.com on March 30th and instruction will begin. Additionally, our students' third semester has been extended to April 2nd," said Broward School Board chairwoman Donna Korn.
Miami-Dade schools began handing out laptops last week to students who will need them for online instruction. The district has about 200,000 laptops and tablets, but are trying to limit them to students who don't have one at home. For students who don't have access to the internet at home, Comcast will provide free access through their Internet Essentials program for the next 60 days.
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