LHS Chromebook Cart Project 2019-2020

Introduction, Purpose, and Overview

Lancaster County Public Schools is a small county school system located on the Northern Neck
of Virginia. The county’s population is about 11,000 and the school system has a population of
about 1100 students. Lancaster High School is the only high school in the county and consists of
grades 9-12, approximately 400 students. LHS has been fully 1-to-1 with Chromebooks since
2016. All LHS students are issued a Chromebook and a charger at the beginning of each year.
They are permitted to take these home and they are expected to turn them in at the conclusion of
the school year. Throughout the course of the year, Chromebooks and chargers are damaged,
lost, or stolen. Teachers grow increasingly frustrated with students who have lost or broken their
device and therefore can not participate in planned classroom assignments, projects, and tests.
Students will also claim that their devices are not charged and teachers currently are not supplied
with additional chargers to help with this problem. According to Kevin Bean, LCPS Instructional
Technology Director, the high school loses approximately 25% of its inventory (Chromebooks
and chargers) every school year. Although students are expected to pay the deductible for
replacement of any lost or damaged device or charger this money is rarely collected. The cost of
this replacement is falling solely on the school system. The ultimate goal of this project is to
create a plan to help eliminate the loss of devices each year and help teachers more effectively
implement device usage in their classrooms.

Needs Assessment

LHS principal, Tara Booth, and LCPS IT Director, Kevin Bean, expressed their concerns about
the current system and the need for a change. Research into cost as well as developing a plan that
meets the needs of all students has already taken place. It was determined that each core subject
classroom, including Foreign Language classes, will receive a Chromebook cart complete with a
class set of Chromebooks. The principal and IT Director, as well as members of the LHS faculty,
and the school system superintendent decided this was the best approach to take to help teachers
and students get full usability out of the LCPS 1-to-1 device program. The high school would
like to implement this new system at the beginning of the school year; therefore it is a high
priority project. Teachers will need to receive professional development to prepare them for a
new system of distribution as well as to help them design meaningful, insightful lessons that will
fully utilize the devices. This will hopefully ease the frustrations of the classroom teachers and
eliminate the excuses from the students.

Project Management Team Members/Stakeholders

This project management team consists of seven people, although the LCPS Superintendent will
be playing a minimal role in that he will only be approving or disapproving steps in the process.
The IT Director will be in direct communication with the Superintendent during all stages of the
project and will serve as the team’s liaison.

The table below describes the role of each member of the project team. It also contains a brief
description of each members’ day to day job responsibilities.

Team Job Description Project Role

Member/Stakeholders

Tara Booth, LHS Principal ● Instructional leader of ● Determines original plan

LHS of action
● Observes teachers ● Communicates with
● Evaluates lesson plans teachers and parents about
● Handles student discipline the new plan
● Oversees testing ● Writes new Chromebook
schedules distribution policy
● Determines the overall
budget for the high school
● Approves all LHS budget
requests

Kevin Bean, IT Director ● Oversees technology for ● Team Liaison to the

the entire division
● Troubleshoots problems
with technology division
wide
● Repairs devices district
wide
● Manages the district’s
server
● Distributes and installs
new technology
Superintendent
● Determines the amount of
carts, additional devices
and chargers needed
● Obtains quotes for carts,
additional devices and
chargers
● Completes purchase
orders for new carts,
additional devices and
chargers
● Purchases carts, additional
devices and chargers
● Assembles new carts
● Connects new devices to
the server
Team Member Job Description
Sarah Terry, ITRT ● Assists teachers with
(Instructional Technology using devices in their
Resource Teacher) classrooms
● Trains teachers on new
technology/products
● Models lessons for
teachers using technology
● Troubleshoots and fixes
minor device
malfunctions
● Maintains county website
Renee Tadlock, Media ● Manages the library
Specialist ● Distributes books to
students
● Inventories and labels all
devices
● Collects and distributes
devices to teachers and
students
Zac Stevens and Lynette ● Provide daily instruction
Pewett, LHS classroom for students
teachers ● Create lesson plans
● Monitor student behavior
● Contact parents
● Manage devices within
their classroom
Dan Russell, LCPS ● Oversees all three schools
Superintendent in the district
● Determines county
policies
● Approves state reports
● Communicates directly
with the school board
SMART Goals
Project Role
● Project manager
● Surveys staff
● Shares survey results with
the team
● Trains teachers on new
carts and new policy
● Trains students on using
new carts
● Labels and inventories all
new carts, devices and
chargers
● Distributes carts, devices
and chargers to teachers
● Distributes carts, devices
and chargers to students
who qualify for take home
devices
● Provide input on the new
policy
● Provides final approval on
purchasing new carts,
devices and chargers
● Provides final approval on
new policy
The project management team determined two main goals for the project:
● Teachers will use Chromebooks as a part of their daily lessons for an average of at least
25% of their instructional time as evidenced on lesson plans and during weekly
administrative observations.
● LHS will replace less than 10% of its inventory during the 2019-2020 school year due to
damaged or lost devices as evidenced by device inventory at the conclusion of the school
year.

Success Criteria

The project management team hopes to measure the overall success of the project by:
● Seeing teachers experience less frustration when attempting to utilize technology in their
classrooms
● Observing an increase in daily Chromebook usage
● Having to replace less than 10% of devices and chargers at the end of the year

Project and Delivery Cycle

Date Task Person(s) Responsible

May 2019 1. Discuss options for optimizing the use of 1. Stakeholders and
Chromebooks in the high school classrooms project manager
2. Survey staff about Chromebook usage 2. ITRT

June 2019 1. Share results of staff survey with 1. ITRT

stakeholders 2. IT Department
2. Discuss plan with Superintendent 3. IT Department
3. Get pricing on classroom carts and 4. IT Department
additional Chromebooks and chargers 5. IT Department
4. Share pricing with stakeholders
5. Purchase carts, devices and chargers

July 2019 1. Inventory and label devices, chargers, and 1. LHS Media
carts Specialist
2. Assemble carts and put devices into carts 2. IT Department

Date Task Person(s)

Responsible
August 2019 1. Train teachers on new Chromebook 1. ITRT
procedures and better utilizing devices in 2. LHS Media
their classrooms Specialist
2. Distribute carts to classrooms 3. LHS Principal
3. Determine the students who will need to be
issued Chromebooks to take home

Sept 2019 1. Discuss new Chromebook policy with 1. ITRT

students during the first week of school 2. LHS Media
2. Distribute Chromebooks to students who Specialist
have permission to take the devices home

Oct 2019 1. Distribute a climate survey to students and 1. ITRT

staff about new Chromebook policy 2. Stakeholders and
2. Discuss results of survey and adapt policy if project manager
needed

Jan 2020 1. Distribute a climate survey to students and 1. ITRT

staff about new Chromebook policy 2. Stakeholders and
2. Discuss results of survey and adapt policy if project manager
needed

Project Life Cycle

Gantt Chart
The image below shows a small portion of the Gantt Chart that the team put together to map out
the timeline for the Chromebook cart rollout. The chart goes out to project completion at week
25, which includes teacher surveys and project amendments as needed. To view the Gantt Chart
in its entirety, go to http://bit.ly/LHSGanttChart.

Communication Tools

LaHS has four groups that it communicates with on a regular basis:

Internal - faculty/staff and students, External - parents and community.

LHS Communication Tools

Staff Student Parent Community

● Email ● AM/PM ● “Instant Alert” phone ● Social

● Weekly Updates Announcements calls (whole media
(sent Sunday ● Newsletters school/district) ● Website
evenings with a (weekly and ● Remind 101(individual ● Newspaper
list of events for quarterly) classes)
the week) ● Google ● Newsletters/flyers
● Remind 101 texts Classroom ● In-person conferences
● AM/PM (grades 6-12) ● Phone calls
Announcements ● Email (grades 9- ● Social media
● Monthly faculty 12) ● Website
meetings ● Social media

Parent (continued)
 ● Google Classroom
parent updates (daily or
weekly per parent
preference, grades 6-
12)
● PowerSchool parent
updates

Although LHS has a vast amount of internal communication “vehicles”, it’s still a bit of a
struggle to communicate successfully. Modern technology has made important information
available at the meer click of a button. However, sometimes it’s best to take a moment and have
a one-on-one, face-to-face chat, especially in a busy school.

All teachers use Google Classroom which allows them to send messages as well as assignments
to their students. Teachers are required to send out weekly and monthly newsletters. These
provide communication to students as well as parents.

Project Risks

Risk Event Likelihood Impact Action Plan Responsible Party

Carts and devices Medium High ● Push back distribution Kevin Bean
not being of classroom carts Tara Booth
delivered on time ● Distribute Renee Tadlock
Chromebooks based
on the old policy and
collect them once carts
are received and
assembled

Carts not being High High ● Bring in other support Kevin Bean
assembled on staff to help assemble
time and inventory carts
and devices
 Risk Event Likelihood Impact Action Plan Responsible Party

Teachers not Medium High ● Hold off on Sarah Terry

getting trained distributing carts until Renee Tadlock
prior to the start Week 2
of the school ● Provide training after
year/cart school or during
distribution planning periods until
during the first all teachers are trained
week of school

Parents wanting Low Low ● Review new policy Tara Booth

their child(ren) to with parents Renee Tadlock
bring home a
device

Evaluation

Project success will be monitored and evaluated via Google Form survey that will be shared with
LHS teachers at the end of the first month of school, at the end of the first quarter and again at
the end of the first semester. Teachers will be asked to discuss the pros and cons of the new
system. They will also be asked to provide suggestions to help improve the new policy. Survey
results will be considered by the Project Management team and changes and/or improvements
will be made as needed.

Students and parents will also be surveyed after the first semester. They will be asked to share
their opinions and provide suggestions on the new policy. If necessary, a plan will be formulated
for the 2021-2022 school year to provide more opportunities for students to sign out devices
from time to time as needed.

Conclusion

The LHS Chromebook Cart Project is in full swing. All carts have arrived and the team is
currently awaiting the new devices and chargers. The LHS Media Specialist will return to work
mid-August. At that time, the team is hopeful that all charges and devices will be ready for
inventory. The LHS Principal is currently working on drafting a new policy for students who will
be permitted to take check out devices for the entirety of the school year. The team is
anticipating that approximately 50 students will qualify for this privilege. Once this policy is
finished, the principal will share it with the team, allowing them to make any changes prior to the
IT Director presenting it to the Superintendent for final approval. Parents and students will be
made aware of the new policy during registration in mid-August.
Overall, the team has worked very well together. The team consists of several people who have
extremely demanding and time-consuming jobs, therefore they did struggle occasionally to get
the full team together. Also, several of the team members are not 12-month employees, therefore
communication over the summer months has been difficult. All team members will be back on
contract starting mid-August. This should help with the final implementation process.

As with any new system, the team is anticipating some potential issues, however they feel
strongly that the planning process has been through enough to handle any minor disruptions.

Appendix - Request for Proposal Template

 6/1/2019

TO: Camcor Inc.

PO Box 1899
Burlington, NC 27216
info@camcor.com

FROM: Lancaster County Public Schools

Sarah Terry, ITRT

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL – Chromebook Classroom Cart at Lancaster High

School

I am pleased to send you the attached Request for Proposal for Lancaster County Public School’s
1-to-1 Chromebook Classroom Cart Initiative.

I would ask that you submit the proposal to me no later than June 10, 2019.

Please forward your proposal to:

Kevin Bean
IT Director
Lancaster County Public Schools
2330 Irvington Road
Weems, VA 22579

Background
Lancaster County Public Schools is small, rural school system looking to provide equity in a 1-
to-1 deployment of Chromebooks at the high school level. Although this school currently has a
Chromebook policy where students are each given their own Chromebook to use and take home
each night, the school is looking for a better way to distribute Chromebooks without losing so
many each year due to damage and loss of device.

The purpose of this project is to create a 1-to-1 initiative that is fully functioning and benefits
both teachers and students for the purpose of implementing class sets of Chromebooks in all core
subject classrooms. Each classroom will need a Chromebook cart that will house up to 25
Chromebooks. The carts will also have chargers installed. A small amount of replacement
Chromebooks and chargers will need to be purchased to supplement the current inventory.

Scope of Work
Target Audience

The target audience will consist of approximately 400 student and 20 teacher users.
● Medium to high
● Students, teachers
● Lancaster County Public Schools, specifically Lancaster High School

Content

LHS Teachers will be provided with training on the use of the new Chromebook carts within
their classrooms, including the new policy for distributing and collecting Chromebooks during
each class period. They will also receive training on utilizing Chromebooks during their daily
classroom instruction.

Deliverables

The vendor will provide:

20 Chromebook Carts with at least 25 slots

150 Additional Lenovo Chromebooks
200 Additional Lenovo Chromebook charges, model N23
Training on assembly carts (if necessary)

The ITRT will provide:

How-to Sheets for using the carts

How-to sheets for distributing and collecting Chromebooks
LHS Chromebook Policy
Weekly examples and suggestions for best utilizing the Chromebooks in teachers’ classrooms

The IT Department will provide:

Chromebook Carts with chargers for all core subject classrooms

Class sets of Chromebooks for all core subject classrooms
Support and maintenance of carts, chargers and Chromebooks
Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be reviewed with the following criteria in mind.

● Performance Capability: the extent to which the vendor demonstrates the ability to provide
the depth and breadth of experience, skills, and knowledge generally required by this work.
This will include a review of professional references.

● Cost: the total cost to Lancaster County Public Schools of the proposed preferred vendor
relationship.

● Completeness and Quality of Bid Response: the thoroughness and concern for quality in the
vendor’s response.

● Additional questions to be answered and put into consideration prior to final contract sign
off:

● Do you provide tax-exempt purchases for school systems?

● Is there a discount for items being sold to a school system?
● Do you provide discounts for items being purchased in large quantities?
● Do you have a replacement policy for defective items?
● What is your warranty policy?
● Do you provide training for assembly?
● What is your shipping policy?
● Can you guarantee delivery by a certain date?
● Why should we choose you over other vendors?

Vendor responses must be received at Lancaster County School Board office by 5:00 PM on
6/10/2019.