School Year Brings an Apple For Students, Too

Students across Texas returned to campuses last week as schools and universities scrambled to put into place new lesson plans that best accommodate a pandemic.

For many school districts, this meant greatly expanding the technological resources of their students to support a mix of in-person and online education. For example, Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District east of Houston announced plans to buy 16,000 iPads for almost $3.1 million. The Texas Education Agency’s statewide initiative, Operation Connectivity, will pay half the cost.

Gov. Greg Abbott also announced the TEA had obtained more than 1 million personal devices and internet WiFi hotspots as part of the initiative. The effort is financed by a previously announced $200 million allocation of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding to the TEA and matched by school districts. It will ensure that students attending a Texas public school will have both a device and connection to the internet throughout the school year and beyond, Abbott said.

In other tech-related news last week, Apple became the first U.S. company to be valued at $2 trillion.

Raise your hand for public schools

The Texas Association of School Boards endorsed via Twitter a column urging people to keep supporting public schools despite the pandemic.

In the column, Michelle Smith, vice president of policy and advocacy for Raise Your Hand Texas, wrote, “Enrolling your student in your public school ensures they still have access to the bestprepared teachers, access to the best resources and systems designed to help meet the needs of all students, and, whenever we can all get back to a more normal in-school experience, access to all the other things we miss — sports, arts, academic, extracurricular, and other offerings only provided by our public schools.”

Calorie-free desserts

Big Tex will be lonelier but perhaps slimmer this year as the State Fair of Texas plans for a virtual event instead of a midway packed with people and deepfried Twinkies.

Fair organizers are still trying to generate some virtual fun, announcing decidedly different arts, crafts and cooking contests. The four virtual arts and crafts contests are for face masks, sidewalk chalk art, nail art and a decorated mantel or shelf. The three cooking contests are for cake decorating, cookie decorating and mini butter sculpture. Because the cooking contest can’t be tasted this year, entries will be judged on their appearance.

Participants may enter their photo submissions for the virtual contests at Creative.BigTex.com. Online submissions will open Sept. 21 and run through Oct. 4. Winners will be announced Oct. 9.