El Paso, Texas school districts purchase school supplies for distance learning

El Paso, Texas school districts purchased iPads, W-iFi hot spots and other essential school supplies to make the shift to online education. 

School districts in El Paso have closed indefinitely and all students are now remotely learning as officials in the county issued stay-at-home orders. But schools can continue to operate, but only to instruct distance learning, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told districts. 

Local schools have had to purchase thousands of dollars' worth of school supplies to make remote learning possible. The supplies purchased will make sure every student has what they need to work from home. 

El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) was approved by trustees for a $4.6 million purchase of iPads for students. The iPads will be for third and fifth graders. Other elementary students without an iPad or computer at home will be given repurposed iPads from the school district. 

MacBook Airs are already given to students in EPISD's middle and high schools. 

“We want to make sure we can get at least one device in every household so that students can participate in the distance learning opportunities that we will be offering,” Alice Ramos, chief information officer of EPISD said to the El Paso Times. 

To support online learning, trustees approved $192,000 worth of Wi-Fi hot spots to be purchased for the district. This will give students without internet at home access to it. 

But "all wireless carriers are struggling to keep up with the demand," Ramos said to the El Paso Times. A two- to three-week wait is expected. 

Approximately 15% of El Paso County households don't have a computer. Another 25% of those households also don't have broadband internet access, a 2018 American Community Survey showed. 

EPISD wasn't the only district to buy hot spots for students to have internet access.

Clint Independent School District also bought 5,000 hot spots for $960,000. Socorro Independent School district bought 1,000 hot spots for $172,000. Tornillo Independent School District (TISD) bought 500 hot spots for $140,000. 

TISD school board also approved the purchase of 190 laptops for $88,000 that will go towards 11th and 12th graders remote learning. All students in the district will have a mobile device for online learning, El Paso Times reported. 

But until the district receives all the hot spots and laptops, TISD gave learning packets to students.