Battle Ground schools provide Chromebooks to students

BATTLE GROUND — Battle Ground Public Schools was able to provide enough Chromebooks for all of its K-12 students. Since schools have closed because of COVID-19, remote learning has replaced traditional face-to-face learning. “The crisis presents a tremendous challenge and opportunity for us to look at how we deliver instruction to our 13,000 students using a model never imagined by traditional public schools,” Mark Ross, Battle Ground Public Schools superintendent, said in a news release. “We have tremendous talent in our district and individuals who are dedicated to making this new way of learning a reality for our students. We are thankful to our community for supporting the education of our youth and making it possible for us to provide computing devices to all of our students.” Funding for the district’s initiative was provided by local levy funds. In the weeks since its buildings closed, Battle Ground Public Schools trained 75 percent of its staff on remote learning tools such as Google Classroom. Not all students have internet access, however; the district is “working to acquire hotspots and to connect families to low-cost options,” the release said, while providing paper packets.