With the pandemic-induced proliferation of internet-enabled devices to facilitate remote learning, many schools in Washoe County School District lacked enough secure storage for their laptops and tablets. Last school year, we asked principals if they needed additional laptop carts and began tallying up their requests. In a recent ESSER III budget revision, and after board approval, we purchased 900+ laptop carts that are currently being delivered to and assembled at school sites.  

According to school-based staff, these carts are a vast improvement over the last generation of carts. These new carts are more compact and lighter than the old carts, making storage and mobility easier for schools. The new carts are also equipped with smart-charging technology, which is much more energy efficient than charging every device at once during the hours of peak energy consumption.  

The laptop carts are being delivered directly to schools, so they do not require the use of district resources for centralized storage or distribution. Washoe County School District has contracted with a third-party vendor to assemble the carts, taking the existing charging cables at school sites and wiring them directly into the laptop carts for ease of use and inventory control.  

The installation teams began assembling carts this week and have already completed their work at several schools. Schools provide a dedicated indoor space for the technicians to work, and gather and provide the charging cables, so that the technicians can begin working as soon as they arrive on campus.  

According to the technicians, the roll-out has been going very smoothly. While adjustments to the schedule may be necessary, as of now they are on track to complete installation by the time students return from winter break. At that point, most if not all of WCSD’s internet-enabled devices will be able to be stored in locking, organized, smart-charging carts, making online learning and the various web-based learning supports that ESSER is funding that much more accessible to all students.