Duval HomeRoom: Superintendent addresses first day; DCPS update on laptop pickup

JACKSOVILLE, Fla.. — After the first day of Duval HomeRoom use, Duval Couny Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene published a post on the district’s website addressing how the online learning platform’s launch went.

In the post, she explains that, as expected, the first day of Duval HomerRoom presented a great start, but that lessons were learned.

DCPS also announced it would be expanded the times and distribution locations where students can get laptops. This is to speed up the process of getting these laptops to students who need them.

DCPS ANNOUNCEMENT:

"To speed up the distribution of laptops to students who need them, we are expanding the times and the distribution locations.

"Laptops can now be checked out at 10 school locations starting Wednesday.

"BUT pick-up day and time are determined by student’s last name. The full plan is available under later news on www.duvalschools.org. Here are the highlights:

• This is only for students who don’t have access to computers.
• Families with multiple students will be limited to two laptops.
• Because of city directions for social distancing, you must arrive by car or truck.
• For safety, traffic control, social distancing and many other factors, we request you adhere to the schedule.
• Prepare to wait. To keep track of who is receiving each laptop, the check-out process takes time."

In Dr. Greene’s post, she says:

"The first day of Duval HomeRoom on Monday met all of our expectations.

We had many thousands of students reconnect with their teachers and schools through our online systems. Our Big Yellow Lunch-and-Learn buses more than doubled the students getting school lunch, and we delivered educational packets to thousands of elementary school students.

I am so happy that we are getting students back to learning. And just as we expected, we learned some things we needed to adjust, too.

• We shifted to higher-level servers to handle the increased demand our systems experienced with so much teacher and student interaction on day one.
• We are asking our schools to be more flexible around lunchtime so students have time to get a meal -- at school or at the bus stop -- and get back home for school work.
• We will accelerate how we deliver laptops to students who need them and announce a revised plan soon.

Those are just a few of the things we learned, and we’ll learn more as we continue.

It was courageous for our teachers, staff, students, and families to take this leap into home-based learning. It was important to do so because even in this crazy COVID-19 season, children need access to productive learning and to their teachers. We are going to do everything we can to serve our students, and I greatly appreciate everyone’s partnership and collaboration as we improve our capability to do that every day."

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