A straight look at the real picture.

Many schools are still waiting on devices they ordered in months ago. Complaints from parents, local public officials and school board members are placing extreme pressure on school IT officials to secure the devices by any means necessary.

Under such pressure and hearing promises for quicker delivery, some schools have jumped from one ship to another by switching manufacturers or resellers. Those false promises have placed schools in a worse situation.  An article in USA Today cites one district that switched manufacturers after being promised they would receive the devices before the first day of school in August. That delivery date was ultimately pushed back to September and then to October.

According to an Associated Press article on the plight of K-12 schools looking to implement remote learning, “Lenovo, Dell and HP have told school districts they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops.”

That’s a very long line.

The truth is the backlog for laptops and Chromebooks is much higher. Even under optimum conditions, manufacturers are only able to produce a finite number of devices per month. However, those production numbers have decreased because of multiple factors such as: workforce, health and safety restrictions, availability of components, and shipping. Currently the shortage of computer processors is a major driving force behind delivery delays.   

The whole world is vying for devices from the same supply pool. Jumping ship for one that claims to have more cargo only puts you in the back of the line.

We wish that we could magically solve this global supply issue and personally deliver devices to every child. Unfortunately, at this point, the best thing we can do is keep you informed by telling it to you straight. 

 “We pledge to provide honest, accurate and transparent communication to all customers.” Marc Netka, CEO, STS Education

STS Education stands ready to assist you and your community with resources to help make informed decisions and solutions for meeting education goals.