New Chromebook Policy Creates Wave of Change at DVC
With new protocols being created at the start of the school year due to Covid-19, DVC has shocked its students with a new Chromebook policy.
Students at DVC may either bring their personal laptops or use the Chromebooks provided at school. They can now request a “homebook” which will be for home use only. At school, Chromebooks are issued when needed in the classroom, these laptops are used for up to three to four classes each day. In each class, there is an estimate of 25-30 students, and more than half of the class touches the Chromebooks. The main concern is whether students are washing/sanitizing their hands.
Assistant Principal Daramola at DVC helped design this new policy after years of the old one. However, there are still questions concerning the new Chromebook policy and why it was created.
“So the new Chromebook policy was created for a couple different reasons. One, we noted that we want to make sure that students have access to Chromebooks both at school and at home,” Daramola said.
He felt as though the old policy had created more damages to the Chromebooks that each student was assigned to.
“There’s a lot of damage that happens and unfortunately, I think there was some intentional damage as well,” Daramola stated.
Sharing Chromebooks at school with over a hundred students every day could create some health/Covid concerns. Most don’t know if students are constantly sanitizing their hands, washing them, or know if Chromebooks are being wiped down after students are done using them.
“Knowing what we now know about Covid-19, it’s spread on primarily airborne and not through surfaces. Originally that is something that of course has to be considered but once again, I do not believe that students are going to be unduly exposed by sharing Chromebooks,” Daramola said.
According to an article by the New York Times called “What’s the Risk of Catching Coronavirus From a Surface?,” it has been proven that surfaces can contain and spread Covid-19 but not as effectively as airborne spread. It is still important to wipe down surfaces due to not knowing whether the person before you sanitized/washed their hands.
At DVC, teachers do not require students to wipe down their Chromebooks and barely tell students to sanitize their hands. Knowing this can cause some worry if students are safe or not. Returning students were used to having their own Chromebooks and are skeptical of the new change.
Nicholas Chaidez is a senior at DVC and has been used to having his personal Chromebook since freshman year. He felt that he was more coordinated before than he is now.
“I feel like the new Chromebook policy is childish and a waste of time. I felt much more organized and clean when we used our own Chromebooks,” Chaidez said.
“I was able to set up my bookmarks and tabs in a way where I organized the assignments by order of importance and due date. Now, I can’t do this because I have to log into a new Chromebook each class,” Chaidez said.
With the new school year just starting, it is going to take some time for the students to get adjusted to this new system. Having to log into a new laptop each class, sanitizing their hands frequently, and wiping down the surfaces.
The good news is that the new “homebooks” have been distributed for students to use at home. Though once they’re in school, students continue to share Chromebooks not knowing who might’ve been the last person using them.
Kamryn Washington • Oct 6, 2021 at 9:44 am
This is a really great topic because I think it has been on everyone’s mind since the first day of school. It doesn’t make sense why after the pandemic they would change the computer policy to something that potentially spreads more germs. I also love your choice of interviewees. By interviewing Daramola, students can now understand his stance in the situation. I’m surprised that he doesn’t think the new policy spreads more germs and potentially COVID-19. Nicholas’s quotes were very relatable because most students have been going through the same struggle. The incorporation of facts from the New York Times was great as well in order to show an unbiased and scientific view. Overall I loved this article and I think it was very informational.
Keenan Mungai • Sep 30, 2021 at 8:52 am
I like the concept of this article. I personally have thought the same thing about the Chromebook policy. It does transport the COVID-19 disease and I always thought about why they haven’t really enforced it. So it was nice that you decided to touch on a subject that has yet to be addressed. You also formatted the article very well. This was a very informative article, and I like the topic you chose to write about.
Angel Luevano • Sep 29, 2021 at 1:17 pm
This was a great article from the beginning all the way to the end from the reviews to the interviews everything that is in here made it get boosted from ordinary to extraordinary. The student chose the perfect people to interview choosing the perfect people to interview choosing from a vice principal as well as a student to get the information that he needed to get the answer to all the questions we have. He also does perfect explaining how teachers don’t really sanitize or enforce the students too and that was a great piece not making anyone look good and going straight for the facts. That was the reason that I believe that pushed the article to make it the best it possibly can be and going for the straight hardcore news.
kailyn • Sep 29, 2021 at 1:14 pm
I think this article was really strong. It was timely and interesting and its something alot of seniors have been concerned with. I think the mention of homebooks was important. Maybe to improve you could have asked students about that aspect of the policy. One of the only things I would say is you could have asked a few more students about how they felt. One thing we talk about a lot is diversifying our sources so the article can reflect the whole school I think if you talked to maybe one or two more students or even a staff member the article wouldve been a bit stronger.
Adrian Flores • Sep 29, 2021 at 1:11 pm
The overall article was well written and structured in a professional format. The way it was broken down into sections gave the article a great flow. Getting the different types of interviews gives us different perspectives that make the writer not sound bias. He does not use biased language, no error grammars or punctuation errors. The lead and header were great, caught the reader’s attention, within the first line. However, the only thing I wished to see different was the conclusion, feel like it could have been elaborated. By far the best article I’ve read this year so far.
Bobby Lopez • Sep 29, 2021 at 1:11 pm
I love your article, Cameron! Thank you for getting this useful information to us students. This really clarifies things for me.
Marley Washington • Sep 29, 2021 at 1:10 pm
I loved the input from Vice Principal, Daramola, it seemed to help better the perspective of the new policy. The unbiased input that the author chose when discussing was a very neutral touch as well. I appreciate hearing an article about the important things that are happening in Da Vinci Communications. As a student myself I feel more aware of the environment. This policy and Cameron’s review of it was a wonderful and informational article.
Kadi Donis • Sep 29, 2021 at 1:08 pm
Cameron! Amazing job overall, I love the way that you organized your structure of your article. The way that you described your paper was amazing and the way you used great language was also amazing. The headline catches my attention and also amazing job aiming it to the main problem and the way that you ended your article was also very good. Another thing that stood out was the amount of research you put into it which was interviewing you did amazing job quoting the individuals that you interviewed. Overall I can say that you did an amazing job with this article. It was very strong and great news to read because it is an important topic to cover.