Coachella Valley Unified School District Case Study
Watch the video on how one of the poorest districts in the United States leveraged LocknCharge EVO 40 iPad Cart to deploy over 20,000 iPad devices.
Coachella Valley Unified School District (CVUSD), based in Thermal, CA, has a student population of 19,500 spread out over 22 schools. The district’s schools are spread out over an area the size of the State of Rhode Island. As one of the poorest school districts in the United States, with 90% qualifying for free or reduced cost lunches and with a population that is 97% Hispanic, the passing of a $42 Million technology bond in 2013 was a signal that the district and community were making a true investment in the future of their students.
Device Deployment Vision & Goals
Superintendent Dr. Darryl Adams’ vision of leveling the playing field for all of his students with technology led to the initiative to be the first school in the United Sates to provide Apple iPads® to all students and teachers pre-K through 12th Grade. Preparing their students for college, career and citizenship was a core tenant of this initiative and there was no roadmap for how to accomplish this. It had never been done before.
Michelle Murphy, Executive Director of Technology Services, led the technology team of the CVUSD iCenter, in coming up with a plan on how to provide 18,000 iPads® in their first year of deployment, knowing that the impossible is possible with hard work and collaboration.
The first step was securing funding, through a $42 Million technology bond to upgrade digital infrastructure increasing Wi-Fi access points and bandwidth, as well as to purchase the devices. To prove to votes that this bond was worth passing, the district established an iPad deployment pilot.