Bellevue School District: Student Device Updates For End Of 2020–2021 School Year

Press release from the Bellevue School District:

June 3, 2021

We are excited to announce that all K-12 students will be able to keep their district device this summer.  This ensures every student has an opportunity to continue to learn, connect, innovate, communicate, collaborate and so much more.

Reminders for using student devices over the summer:

• The terms of the Technology Responsible Use Pledge still apply.
• Students are responsible for the care of their device.
• Devices will still have their web traffic filtered.
• Students are responsible for bringing their device back on the first day of school.

If students have hardware issues at the end of the school year or over summer break, we highly encourage them to get their device fixed. This is to ensure they can start the first day of next school year with a fully functional device.

Prior to returning to school in the fall, students will need to charge, turn on and connect to the district network via BSDVPN. This is to ensure student devices receive the necessary summer updates prior to the first day of school.

If tech support is needed, students may email studenthelp@bsd405.org

Student device changes for 2021-2022 school year

Starting this fall, we are changing our strategy for elementary devices. Prior to the pandemic, devices were issued to schools and placed in carts insides classrooms. The intention was that those devices would stay with that classroom for the life of the device, and not travel back and forth between school and home.

Focusing on Fall:

• Students will be issued new devices in 2nd, 6th and 9th grade.
• Students will use the same device for those three (middle) or four (elementary and high) years.
• Kindergarten students will be issued an iPad that they will also use in 1st grade.
• Devices will be checked out in Destiny to students at all grade levels.

All students should be given the option of taking home the device daily if/when needed. This will significantly reduce the resources needed at the beginning and end of a school year. It will also ensure that students participating in summer school will have a device they are familiar with. Additionally, providing all students technology access is one way to support each and every student.

This press release was produced by the Bellevue School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.