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All public school students in Polk County to get laptops or iPads

In a new digital initiative, all students in Polk County Schools will receive new technology in the next six weeks.

POLK COUNTY, Fla. — By mid-October, all Polk County Public Schools students will either receive an iPad or laptop. It's all part of a $28 million grant to launch the county's digital learning initiative.

Elementary students will receive an iPad while middle and high schoolers will get an HP or Dell laptop. 

The money to make this initiative happen comes from local and federal dollars. And over the next few weeks, the schools have a lot of new tech to hand out.

"If you base it on our current projected enrollment, we're looking at about 116,000 devices going out to students," Frederick Heid, superintendent of Polk County Public Schools, said.

Some schools have already started to receive their new gear and all students are expected to get an iPad or laptop in the next six weeks. 

"All schools will do their full deployment no later than the middle of October," Heid said.

The technology allows teachers to get more creative with how they teach and it gives students all the resources they need to continue learning at home. 

So what about the kids that don't have Wi-Fi at home? 

Polk County Schools says it will either cover the costs to have Wi-Fi hard-wired into a student's house or give kids a Wi-Fi hotspot device so they can get online while at home.

The county is also expanding the number of buses deployed to provide Wi-Fi to families in the area. 

Heid said students will be able to keep their devices over breaks and during the summer, enabling them to keep learning year-round. 

The laptops and iPads use a secure server. If kids are searching for concerning terms, the pages are blocked from access and the school is notified. 

In the next few weeks, parents can expect to receive more information from their child's school about the program. 

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