Update: After parents raise concerns, Fayette says students won’t be charged Chromebook fee

Jackie Cornett was among the Fayette school parents on Wednesday surprised to receive a $25 bill for a Chromebook mobile device fee.

The bill came after officials had said earlier that every student would be given a Chromebook as the district launched an all-virtual return to school.

“We are in the process of mailing our student fee statements,” said the letter to Cornett, sent to Lafayette High School families on Wednesday.

“Please note that you can also view the fees on your Infinite Campus Parent Portal. You will notice a Chromebook fee of $25.00. All students will be given a chromebook (if they have not yet received one) as soon as the district receives them (we are hopeful this will be by early/mid October.

Lafayette Principal Bryne Jacobs said on Thursday that Lafayette High School notified families Wednesday about instructional fees and included the $25 Chromebook fee to help with repairs of the Chromebooks previously purchased with school funds.

“We have since learned that the district will be covering the cost of repairs and replacements of the devices. This is great news and we will be informing families this morning that there is no need to pay the Chromebook fee,” Jacobs said.

On Wednesday Cornett and other parents shared their concerns on social media about getting the Chromebook fee as they are dealing with the spread of COVID-19.

“I just don’t believe parents should have to deal with this,” Cornett told the Herald-Leader. “Some parents are still unemployed and have more then one child there shouldn’t be any fees for something parents or kids didn’t ask for.”

A parent posting in the Facebook group ‘Let Them Learn in Fayette County’ said their child was using their own laptop but had still been asked for a Chromebook fee.

Some parents also said they received notice of a Chromebook fee from Frederick Douglass High School.

One commenter asked why a Chromebook fee was required when the Chromebooks were paid with federal COVID-19 dollars.

District spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said Thursday that the Fayette County Board of Education annually approves a list of possible instructional school fees that schools may charge.

Each school then sets its own instructional fees, depending on the classes they offer. The Chromebook fee was added to the list of possible fees several years ago when individual schools were funding their own one-to-one technology initiatives. It was intended to allow schools to collect money to use for repairs and replacement of the Chromebooks, she said.

Deffendall said now that the district has invested in a districtwide one-to-one technology initiative, the district will also be paying for repairs and replacements. Schools will not need the funds any longer.

“We are aware of two high schools that have asked families to pay a Chromebook fee for computers paid for with school funds, which is allowed under board policies,” said Deffendall. “Just as students only pay course fees for the classes they are taking, we would not expect that any student who has not received a Chromebook to be charged.”

Posted on the Fayette County Public Schools website is a message that the district has invested $6.5 million throughout the school district to provide each student with a mobile device. When virtual classes started in late August, the district had roughly 35,000 Chromebooks on hand for the more than 43,000 students.

In July, Fayette County Schools ordered another 12,000 devices, but because of a nationwide shortage at the manufacturing level, the devices were not here in time for the start of classes. The district received additional Chromebooks in September, remaining devices are scheduled to arrive in early October.

Until the entire order is filled, district officials say they are placing a priority on putting Chromebooks in the hands of students who would not otherwise have access to a computer at home. Once all shipments are complete, staff will be able to distribute additional devices so that every student has a district-issued Chromebook and replace older devices with newer ones.

Students will not be penalized for not having a computer, and teachers will work with families individually to ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate, the district said.

The district has also had a shortage of hotspots to families without internet access at home in order to allow every student to access the digital resources that are critical to helping each student achieve during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hotspots are distributed through the Family Resource and Youth Service Centers, and each hotspot can support multiple students in a family.

Todd Burus, a leader in the Let Them Learn in Fayette County group, said the fee situation “ is just one example of how the board has made decisions without community input that shows a blatant disregard for the struggling financial state of many Fayette Co families. “

“We are thankful they have reconsidered their position after receiving pushback, but remain concerned that this pattern of decision making without regard for the broader consequences of the ones they serve plagues our board,” he said.

This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 9:24 AM.