More than 24,000 Frisco ISD students request electronic devices for return to school

Over 24,000 Frisco ISD students requested electronic devices from the district for the start to the 2020-21 school year, according to FISD officials.

The first three weeks of the fall will be completely virtual. Students committed to a face-to-face learning environment will return to school Sept. 3, and all-online, or Virtual Academy, students will continue in their learning environment.

The district should be able to fill all 24,491 device requests from students, FISD Chief Technology Officer Melissa Fouche said at an Aug. 10 board meeting.

Students in need of devices in prekindergarten through first grade will receive iPads, and second-grade through 12th-grade students will receive Chromebooks, Fouche said.

Of the device requests, 218 FISD families requested internet connectivity, Fouche said. FISD will offer Wi-Fi hot spots through AT&T per family. The hotspots come with an internet filter, and the district can adjust the number of gigabytes based on a family’s size.

“We have them all split up, and they’re being taken out to campuses,” Fouche said of both hot spots and devices.

Students can also access Wi-Fi through drive-up access at 14 schools, according to FISD’s website.

For more FISD technology information, visit www.friscoisd.org/departments/covid-19/technology-resources#q16.