Students want protection for course costs in case the coronavirus pandemic prevents them from attending classes. FOX Business’ Gerri Willis and more.
SAN FRANCISCO – Schools in the United States are facing shortfalls and long delays, of up to several months, in obtaining this most important back-to-school supplies: the laptops and other equipment needed for online learning, an Associated Press study found.
The world’s three largest computer companies, Lenovo, HP and Dell, have told school districts they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops, in some cases exacerbated by Trump administration’s sanctions on Chinese suppliers.
Because the school year is starting in many places because of the coronavirus, educators nationwide are worried that computer shortages will eradicate inequality – and the headache for students, families and teachers.
‘This will be like an artist asking for a picture without painting. You can not have children learning distance without a computer, ”said Tom Baumgarten, superintendent of the Morongo County School District in California’s Mojave Desert, where all 8,000 students are eligible for free lunch and most computers are needed. for distance learning.
Tom Baumgarten, Superintendent of the Morongo County School District, visits the district offices. (AP Photo / Gregory Bull)
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Baumgarten ordered 5,000 HP laptops in July and was told they would arrive on time for the first day of school on August 26. The delivery date then changed to September, then October. The district has about 4,000 old laptops that can serve about half of students, but what about the rest, Baumgarten asks rhetorically. “I am very worried that I will not be able to get a computer for everyone.”
Chromebooks and other low-cost PCs are the computers of choice for most budget schools. The delays began in the spring and intensified due to high demand and disruptions to supply chains, the same reasons that toilet paper and other necessary pandemics flew off the shelves a few months ago. Then came the July 20 announcement from the Trump administration targeting Chinese companies, which they say were implicated in forced labor rather than other human rights abuses. The commerce department imposed sanctions on 11 Chinese companies, including the manufacturer of multiple models of Lenovo laptops, which the company says it will add to existing delays in several weeks, according to a letter sent to customers by Lenovo.
School districts are advocating for the Trump administration to solve the problem, saying that distance education without laptops will not amount to tuition for some of the country’s most vulnerable students.
“It’s hard because I do not condone child slave labor for computers, but can we not harm more children in the process?” said Matt Bartenhagen, IT director for Williston Public Schools in North Dakota. The district has said that its order of 2,000 Lenovo Chromebooks “hopefully” will arrive sometime in the fourth quarter.
Tom Baumgarten looks at a laptop with a cracked screen at Twentynine Palms Junior High School. (AP Photo / Gregory Bull)
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There are no nationwide numbers on the number of laptops and other devices that schools are waiting for, but the shortages and backlogs affect school districts in more than 15 states, according to interviews with school districts around the country, suppliers, computer companies and sector analysts.
A recent survey of the 1,100 districts in California showed that schools in the state are waiting for at least 300,000 compatible computers, said Mary Nicely, a senior policy adviser to the state superintendent.
The Denver Public Schools District, the largest in Colorado, is waiting for 12,500 Lenovo Chromebooks ordered in April and May. The neighborhood has struggled to find and arrange machines for everything available. Still, if school starts Wednesday, they will be short of about 3,000 devices, says Lara Hussain, an IT director for the neighborhood.
Lenovo had informed Denver and other customers months ago about supply chain delays. In late July, Lenovo sent a letter saying that the Commerce Department’s ‘trade controls’ would cause another delay. In the letter, 23 Lenovo models were mentioned by their Chinese supplier, Hefei Bitland Information Technology Co. Ltd.
“Effectively, we no longer produce these devices on Bitland,” the letter said, adding that Lenovo has shifted production to other sites.
Jason Rand cuts open the shrink wrap around a pallet of Lenovo Chromebook laptops while sitting in a Denver Public Schools warehouse. (AP Photo / David Zalubowski)
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A Lenovo official told the California Department of Education that the company has a backlog of more than 3 million Chromebooks, said Daniel Thigpen, the department’s spokesman.
Lenovo declined to answer repeated questions from AP in search of confirmation of the backlog and details on the number of delayed devices.
The Department of Commerce said it added Hefei Bitland to its so-called Entity List, which restricts the export and transfer of land from articles by sanctioned companies. “It does not apply to the import of Chromebooks from China,” the department said in a statement, adding, however, “we should all agree that American schoolchildren should not use computers from China that were produced out of forced labor.”
Tom Quiambao, IT director for the Tracy Unified School District in Northern California, said he and his supplier contacted HP to ask why his July order for 10,000 HP laptops would take three months. He was told, “HP is short 1.7 million units of laptops” due to production shortages in a variety of components made in China, Quiambao said.
An HP spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny that number, saying only “we will continue with our global supply chain to meet the changing needs of our customers.”
Dell offered a similar opaque response to detailed questions about a backlog.
“We specifically did not notice any demand or supply,” Dell said in an email, adding that the company saw increased orders due to virtual learning and was trying to “fulfill orders as efficiently as possible.”
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