Nonprofit Mississippi News On Thursday, around 4,000 Chromebooks arrived in the Jackson Public Schools District’s warehouse as part of the massive state effort to provide a Chromebook for every student. Superintendent Errick Greene said, “It’s an happy day in Jackson.” He took a photo outside the warehouse with other administrators, legislators and officials from Mississippi Department of Education. Greene stated that the remaining 11,000 devices, which were bought independently by the district are expected to be delivered by November 20. The Mississippi Department of Education’s buying program ordered the devices that were delivered on Thursday. Districts across the state had to rethink how they could operate safely during the coronavirus pandemic. JPS decided to run school entirely online for the fall semester. These devices will be used by the approximately 5,000 students in the district without a device or connectivity, particularly the second graders and older. Greene stated that there are many needs in the district. “We have about 25% of our scholars learning asynchronously without a device or (using take-home packets), that kind of thing. “Getting them connected is our biggest priority,” said Joe Albright, the district’s chief operating officer. He stated that those students and schools have been identified and that devices will be delivered next week to those schools for parents. Students will be able also to pick up WiFi hotspots. Students who didn’t get one of the 4,000 devices this week will be able to receive one in future shipments. According to John Kraman (chief information officer for the Mississippi Department of Education), approximately 150,000 of the 390,000.000 devices ordered statewide were delivered on Thursday. The next 100,000 devices are due to arrive by the end of the week, with the remaining for delivery the week after that. According to the contract between the state education department and its vendor, delivery deadline is November 20. The state must reimburse schools for the cost of the devices by Dec. 1. Dec. 1 is the deadline for schools to be reimbursed by the state for the devices. The Legislature had earlier this year approved $200 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funding to support districts in implementing distance education plans.