WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – With more students preparing to learn remotely in the upcoming school year, the demand for technology including laptops and Chromebooks is at an all-time high. With the first day of school coming up in about two weeks, Wichita Public Schools is still waiting on thousands of devices to arrive.

As schools in Wichita and across the globe order more devices for students to learn remotely, Chinese manufacturers struggle to keep up with the demand. Twotrees Technologies, LLC is a tech reselling company that specializes in K-12 schools in Kansas. When COVID-19 shut down schools last spring, the company saw a massive increase in orders.

‘As soon as corona (virus) broke, people realized students would have to be home, and they were immediately putting (in) orders on Chromebooks,” said Casey Schunn with TwoTrees Technologies. “Schools were ordering far more than they normally do, and the supply chain was already constrained back then.”

One of Twotrees’ manufacturers has more than 3 million Chromebooks on backorder and the company is telling clients it could be months before their orders are filled. That’s the case in Wichita where USD 259 ordered 24,000 devices but is still waiting on about 16,000, many of which won’t arrive until October.

“Across the country, everyone’s trying to get devices to start school,” said Wichita Public Schools Public Information Officer Rob Dickson.

Dickson said he can guarantee each student in need will have the proper technology and internet access to attend school remotely this fall.

“Many devices for our teachers were about two years old, so we’re repurposing those staff devices that were two years old to our students until their new devices come in,” he said.

The Wichita school district said each school will have its own plan to get needed devices to students and students who need them most will be top priority.

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