Nacogdoches ISD preparing teachers for virtual start to new school year

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - Faculty and staff at Nacogdoches Independent School District are busy getting ready for the first day of school, which will look and feel different than any year before it.

The district ordered 624 laptops at a cost of more than $717,000 so teachers can share lessons virtually with students for the first four weeks of school.

”It is a good purchase and a good tool for our teachers to be able to use,” said Michael Martin, deputy superintendent of Nacogdoches ISD.

Administrators are proposing the laptops be paid for using the district technology fund, Martin explained. The next purchase will be iPads and Chromebooks for students. The state also alerted administrators in an 8 p.m. email about available state assistance.

“They will pay 50 percent of the expenditures incurred for the devices and hotspots,” Martin added.

The assistance is for the socio-economic disadvantaged student, approximately 80 percent of NISD’s student population.

”We could not have expected something like this from the state, but if you are thinking about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that this allowing us to save,” said NISD Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo.

Board members want every child in the district to have the devices. They’ll vote on the matter after the numbers are fully crunched. Early indication is purchase approval will pass.

“So that we stay a one-to-one district for technology to students,” said Dr. Tyrrel Grohman, who is an NISD board member. “And this is good. This is really good.”

Delivery of devices for students will take some time once the orders are placed. IPads for Pre-K to second-grade students could arrive in 3 to 12 weeks.

The delivery date of Chromebooks for 3rd through 12th graders is expected to take 10 to 12 weeks.

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