The Oklahoma State Department of Education awarded Jenks with 400 hot spots from Verizon through a grant program using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The grant promised to supply 50,000 hot spots statewide.

However, a national spike in demand has slowed shipments of school technology. Districts are encountering “everything that you can possibly think of” to complicate the process, said Monty Guthrie, deputy superintendent of finance and federal programs for the state Department of Education.

“There are so many things that are tied up in customs, backlogs and ordering,” Guthrie said during an Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting Thursday. “I really see this is going to be an ongoing thing that’s really been a challenge.”

Oklahoma City Public Schools experienced a similar delay for the 6,183 hot spots awarded in the state grant program.

The district received word Verizon will deliver the hot spots on Saturday, just in the nick of time before classes start online Monday. However, the delay prevented Oklahoma City schools from distributing hot spots during its device pickup days this week, when families received their Google Chromebooks and Apple iPads.

The district has been “rolling with the punches” while at the mercy of nationwide delays, said Rebecca Kaye, district chief of information and accountability.

“We thought that everything would be in place before Monday when we were doing device distribution,” Kaye said. “We’re hopeful that if we have some families that don’t have connectivity on Monday that our partners and businesses will make Wi-Fi networks available. We are feeling confident that this is going to be a short-lived problem.”

Tulsa Public Schools has had a similar but inverse issue. The district hasn’t struggled with hot spot deliveries, but schools are still waiting on 16,000 devices that are now on back order.