Spring Valley High School distributes computers to students

Spring Valley High on Friday became the first Clark County School District school to hand out Chromebooks to students who need them to keep up academically during school closures.

The school is piloting the program expected to roll out at other high schools next week. It provides students with a Chromebook, charger and a list of free or reduced-price internet resources, including through Spectrum, CenturyLink and Cox.

The program is giving priority to seniors with the goal of keeping them on track for graduation. Credit-deficient seniors also will be able to continue their work on Apex, the district’s credit recovery program.

“Any barriers we can solve that are surmountable, we’re going to do that,” Spring Valley High Principal Tam Larnerd said.

The school has been ready to give out Chromebooks since before the closures were announced but recently received the go-ahead from upper leadership, Larnerd said.

The school has 2,100 Chromebooks available to cover nearly the entire 2,500-strong student body if needed, but so far, 46 students have expressed interest in a computer.

As a precautionary measure, Spring Valley staff wore gloves and masks to hand out the computers, with school nurse Jill Smith taking their temperatures beforehand.

Interested Spring Valley students may make an appointment for Monday to pick up a Chromebook.

Contact Aleksandra Appleton at 702-383-0218 or aappleton@reviewjournal.com. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.