Twin Rivers school district is distributing laptops to students for distance learning

Twin Rivers Unified School District is distributing more than 10,000 Google Chromebooks to students in preparation for distance learning.

The technology is essential for students to begin online learning, which is set to launch its pilot program April 20, and officially on April 27.

The district serves in several areas, including Arden Arcade, Del Paso Heights, Foothill Farms and parts of Natomas, North Highlands and North Sacramento.

“Above everything, we don’t want our kids to become a casualty from this unexpected situation,” district superintendent Steve Martinez said. “We don’t want them to be the ones that end up hurting for no fault of their own. We will do everything we can to support our students.”

On Tuesday, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond suggested students in California will be unable to return to school for the remainder of the school year, news confirmed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

About 90 percent of the district’s students receive free or reduced lunch. The district also serves foster youth, students who are homeless and English language learners.

“We have a lot of our kids growing up in tough circumstances,” Martinez said. “How can we ensure that we reach all kids and figure out a way to get them access?”

Associate Superintendent Kristen Coates sent out a survey to families asking if students have access to technology and internet. More than 12,000 families responded, many of them expressing need for support.

The district took action and will distribute and loan 10,000 Chromebooks and 2,500 hotspots for students starting Wednesday and continuing through this week, as well as April 6-8 and 13-15.

“In the short term, it will support this new real world that we are living in today,” Martinez said. “But in the long run, it will close that digital divide that we have had for far too long.”

Laptops can be picked up between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Foothill, Grant Union, Highlands, and Rio Linda high schools.

Twin Rivers Unified is using one-time funds to pay for the Chromebooks and, like other districts in the area, anticipates relief from the federal government.

District officials are working to ensure that students struggling in school can have credit recovery options during the distance learning period, to ensure they remain on track for graduation.

Twin Rivers Unified also launched a student service support line to provide technology support, mental health services and enrollment help, among other resources. The district will also help facilitate virtual meetings for families to stay connected as thousands of families continue to adhere to the county’s stay-at-home orders.

“We have always known how important the connection between the teacher and the student is,” Coates said. “But with these new challenges, it really magnified the significance of these connections.”

Twin Rivers Unified is one of 13 Sacramento County school districts that extended its closures to May 1. Twin Rivers schools end the year in early June, but Thurmond said students will likely not return.

“This is in no way to suggest that school is over for the year,” read the letter from the state superintendent. “But rather we should put all efforts into strengthening our delivery of education through distance learning.

“To put this in perspective, we are changing our instructional delivery model that has been in existence for decades in three weeks. That’s a huge challenge, not just in Twin Rivers, but across the country. It’s going to feel different.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 12:58 PM.