‘See you online!’
Monache hands out 720 Chromebooks
A line of cars snaked through Monache High School’s parking lot with a dozen more waiting patiently to enter on Newcomb Street and another line coming from Henderson Avenue on Thursday.
Starting at 2 p.m., students, parents and guardians arrived at the high school to check out 720 Chromebooks in Thursday’s drive-thru distribution. Monache, and all other Porterville Unified School District schools, begin the 2020-21 academic year on Aug. 13 with distance learning.
“It’s simple,” MHS principal, Eric Barba said. “We have them and the students need them. My team stepped up and worked hard to make sure we met the needs of our students. We are still 100 percent vested in supporting our students even if it’s through distance learning.”
Although it isn’t how many students and parents wanted to start the school year, many were thankful to get a device.
“We have three kids but only one computer at home and I need to use it for work,” one parent told a Monache staff
member when coming through the drive-thru line.
If a student didn’t get a device, Barba said they can come to the MHS office Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to check one out. Delivery of a device is also available if necessary.
“They can do this all year as long as we are still doing distance learning,” Barba said. “There can not be a gap in learning so we need to be ready to get devices in students’ hands. If they break, we need to help them replace it. The device is the hub for distance learning. Many parents that couldn’t make it yesterday also messaged me on our Parent Square app so we made alternate arrangements. We’ll even deliver if there are transportation problems.”
Monache was one of the first PUSD schools to host a device distribution day with most schools beginning next week. They are also one of the only schools to do theirs in one day.
The drive-thru consisted of three stops: the first for paperwork, the second for freshmen to get class schedules and the third to check out a Chromebook. Freshmen were invited to come beginning at 2 p.m. and all other grades at 4.
At the checkout stop, Barba and other staff members worked four stations to get cars in and out as quickly as possible. A MHS staff member at one station gave a cheery, “See you online!” before waving goodbye to the cars she helped.
Senior student-athletes Hunter Weimer, Josh Newsom and Yance Williams, who wrestle and play football for the Marauders, came through Monache’s distribution line around 4:45 p.m. and made the most of their wait by chatting and dancing to music in Weimer’s Jeep. The trio, who have already had their athletic seasons pushed back five months, weren’t the most enthused about how their school year would be starting.
“It’s fine, just (thought) that I was going to get a better senior year, we’re kind of getting screwed,” Weimer said. “Me and Josh have been talking about this for a long time, thinking that we can go have fun our senior year and not have to worry about school as much but we’re kind of getting screwed over.”
Because Tulare County is on the state’s monitoring list for its high number of COVID-19 positive cases, all schools in the county must begin the school year with distance learning. Tulare County schools won’t be allowed to reopen until they have been removed from the monitoring list and off it for 14 consecutive days. Elementary schools up to sixth grade can apply for waiver to re-open in preparation of when they will be allowed to re-open in Tulare County.
Device distribution continues for PUSD school’s next week with a few schools posting their schedules on Facebook. Porterville, Strathmore and Granite Hills High School begin pickups on Monday and students must be present along with their parents or guardian. Bartlett Middle School started pickups last week and continue on Monday. BMS pickups only need a parent or guardian to sign and pick up a device.
Those can contact their students’ school for more information about picking up a device and visit https://www.portervilleschools.org/ to find PUSD’S reopening guide for 2020-21.