Minford Receives Over $800,000 In New Technology Donations
Christmas came early for the Minford Local School District this week. District Technology Supervisor Ryan Stockham (shown in picture below) and his assistant Tim Coriell rented a 22' box truck and headed on a 7 hour road trip to Mechanicsburg, PA this Wednesday to pickup over $800,000 worth of new HP laptops (1,345 laptops) that were donated to the school through the Department of Defense Computers for Learning Program. Minford has been part of this program for a number of years which has saved the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in technology costs over the past few years, but this is by far the largest acquisition they have ever received and what is wonderful is it is all new equipment.
These laptops were purchased by the Department of Defense just over a year ago, but were never used. They are still new in box and still have two years of full manufacturer's warranty left on them. Ryan stays very closely connected to the DoD CFL program and searches daily for possible inventory that could help their district. He has traveled all over the country to meet their needs. Ryan has been working since October to secure these nearly 1,400 new laptops and the dream finally came true last week when he got the word on Friday that they were approved. He quickly made travel plans over the weekend and was in Mechanicsburg, PA the following Wednesday for pickup.
With these 1,345 new laptops along with the 300+ Chromebooks the district has purchased over the past three years, Minford will now be able to achieve the coveted 1:1 status. That means they will have enough devices that any student in their district will be able to have computer access any time they need it with no wait and no restrictions. This is a huge deal in an ever-changing education landscape where technology is tightly woven into everything we do. Without equitable access, it is very difficult to implement and integrate technology to its fullest potential. That barrier is now broken in Minford and at a minimal cost.
It will take a while to roll out all of the new technology, but it is now in our possession and that is a big relief. We will install it in the places with the highest needs at first and hopefully through this coming summer, we will be where we want to be. The district sends a huge thank you to Cynthia Anderson (shown in picture below) with DLA Disposition Services at the Mechanicsburg Naval Support center where the laptops were picked up. She was a huge help in coordinating everything with Ryan. We also want to thank Jose Aguero with the DoD Computers For Learning program for always being there to help and support our district when we need it.
