ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) — Staff members with St. Louis Public Schools handed out about 60 iPads Tuesday and more events are scheduled this week and families prepare for the first day of online school.

But at Tuesday night’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams said all students may not have the technology they need on the first day of virtual school next Monday. 

Adams told the board they are missing between 10-20 percent of the technology from students this summer. 

With less than a week to go before the beginning of the school year, Alicia Dockett waited in line at Shaw Elementary to pick up her first graders iPad. She said her child wouldn’t have another way to take classes online without it.

“With everything going on it’s useful. It gives the children a chance to advance in technology which is important,” Dockett said.

Initially, the district told News 4 that all 20,000 students will receive a device. High school students will get laptops while kindergarten through 8th grade will use iPads.

However Kelli Best-Oliver said her third grader at Mallinckrodt Academy of Gifted Instruction won’t have a school-issued iPad by the first day. She said she got an email from her child’s teacher saying only 25 iPads are available for the 50 students in her son’s class. She doesn’t understand why the district didn’t alert parents sooner.

“To hear that the shortage is that large less than a week before school starts, what are families supposed to do?” Best-Oliver asked. “We’re going into six months of this. We shouldn’t be reactive anymore, we can be proactive and have plans.”

Dr. Adams said they hope to have all the technology by September 4. 

“The uncertainty is really, really difficult,” Best-Oliver said. “I know it’s not an unreasonable expectation for there to be clear communication.”

The district is not alone in a shortage. Across the country there are reports of technology shortages as millions of students start school online. 

At the St. Louis County Library, they used funding from the CARES Act to purchase 2,500 Chromebooks for students in need. But the requests were far greater. 

“Over 13,000 Chromebooks requested and about 10,000 hot spots requested from school districts including public, private and parochial,” said Kristen Sorth, the director of the St. Louis County Library. 

She said they are doing their best to help bridge the digital divide. According to the latest US Census data, 15 percent of St. Louis County households do not have internet service and 29 percent of St. Louis City households. 

In SLPS, the district is helping parents by offering Instructional Support Centers. More than a dozen schools will be opened for students. There will be internet access and supervision for students to do their virtual learning. There will be no more than 150 students in each school. 

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