Post-pandemic, Henrico students to retain their own laptops, tablets

Last summer, the Henrico County Public Schools district bought enough laptops, Chromebooks and iPads to put a device in the hands of every one of its roughly 50,000 students for the first time in its history.

Although the vast majority of Henrico students will return to brick-and-mortar classrooms this fall, each student will still have their own device. From now on, HCPS will be a “one-to-one” school district at all grade levels.

“It’s the right thing to do as we move forward to empower student learning anytime, anywhere,” said HCPS spokesman Andy Jenks.

The Henrico school system has long been a leader in instructional technology, but the pandemic-driven school closures brought on an unprecedented rush to buy new tech. The school district spent about $3.9 million to buy 4,500 Chromebooks, 1,000 laptops, 4,400 iPads and other accessories last year, and later reimbursed itself for the entire cost using federal CARES Act funds.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, only middle and high school students had take-home laptops for every student. Students in grades second through fifth grade had Chromebooks assigned to them, but the devices stayed in the school and weren’t allowed to go home with students. Kindergarten and first-graders previously had five iPads per classroom to share.

Moving forward, preschoolers and kindergarten students will have take-home iPads, and elementary school students will have take-home Chromebooks. Middle and high school students will continue to have take-home Dell laptops, as has been the case for many years.

The district is collecting devices this week to refresh and update so they are ready for the school year.

Starting on Monday, HCPS will operate two “summer help desk hubs” staffed by school  technicians to help with any issues with iPads, Chromebooks and laptops that were provided by the school district. The hubs will be open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon at Hermitage High School and Highland Springs High School.

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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar.