In my previous post on this topic, I talked about the partnership between Dublin Unified’s Technology Services department & Maintenance and Operation.

Partnerships across service providers is very common. I want to share a partnership across three different entities (public, private, non-profit): Dublin Unified Technology Services, Integrity in Action and EWaste Direct who understands the importance of all students having access.

The problem we were trying to solve was how to provide laptops to students at home that could not otherwise afford technology. In discussions with my department staff, we talked about the idea of asking EWaste Direct  to donate laptops back to the school district so they could be given to students.  The EWaste Direct was more than happy to accommodate our need.

When we are ready to EWaste laptops, we go through the regular mandated process. Once done EWaste Direct donates laptops back to the school district. It’s a win-win for both sides.

Through Integrity in Action program, Cindy Leung works very hard to reach out to families that need technology at home so our students can access the Internet 24/7 for their instructional objectives.

We take the donated laptops and drop the free Ubermix operating system onto them to ensure families never have to spend any money moving forward on updates. We put the district preferred browser: Chrome, on every laptop so students have a seamless experience getting online. All this work is done by department staff and during evening sessions, they donate their time. We call our sessions fix it clinics.

Students sit in front of donated laptops and we take them through an overview of the Ubermix operating system including a how to video showing all of the functionality. We then practice logging in , how to check for Wi-Fi and how to do basic troubleshooting.

In the past year, during these fix it clinics, we have served 100 students in many families. We provide a how to guide for looking for free Wi-Fi in Dublin California and tips on looking for Wi-Fi in other cities.

Beginning this fall, we have also begun a partnership with everyoneon and with donations from community institutions like Rotary Club of Dublin, we are now offering paid Internet at home for one year for a family for $120.

What does this mean for the students? Simply put, they now have access to all of the same resources their peers have that have a variety of devices at home. We are now working at providing multiple devices to families with more than one student so they do not have to wait for their turn to get to the Internet.