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St. Mary Parish board moves $1 million from tech reserve to buy student devices now
Summary
The St. Mary Parish School Board approved transferring $1 million from its technology reserve to purchase roughly 1,000 student and staff devices now, citing recent price increases and an asset-tracking plan; the motion carried unanimously.
The St. Mary Parish School Board voted April 2 to transfer $1,000,000 from its technology reserve to fund immediate purchases of student and staff devices aimed at completing the district's refresh program.
Board members approved the move after hearing that device prices have risen sharply in recent weeks. "I am asking to move the money into my account for expenditures for this year so that we can buy devices now and avoid a rising cost in next year," said Mr. Vaid, the district technology representative, urging immediate procurement to avoid higher prices next fiscal year.
The board was told the purchase would cover around 1,000 devices for incoming ninth graders, K–8 enrollment shifts, and replacement of staff devices that are no longer supported after Windows 10 reached end of life. Mr. Vaid said his team will tag each unit in the district's asset management system; librarians will check devices out to students and the device-management software will record student logins and lock or track devices that leave parish boundaries.
"We have a five million dollar reserve in our technology fund. So we're going to take one million and move it into technology," a board member noted during the vote. Board members asked whether the district maintains minimum reserve levels and how assets are tracked; Mr. Vaid described location alerts, remote locking, and screenshot/camera capture features that help recover missing equipment.
The transfer was moved by Ms. Lassalle and seconded by Dr. Wilson; the motion passed with all board members voting in favor. The board did not specify exact device models in the public discussion; purchase authorization directs staff to proceed with procurement and to return with contract details as required by board policy.
The decision follows a related business item reporting the outcome of a GovDeals surplus-technology auction that yielded $1,470 in total proceeds from four lots. The auction report listed the high bidders and lot amounts and the board approved awarding the sales to the named bidders during the same meeting.
Next steps: district purchasing will execute acquisition under the approved funding transfer and report back with vendor/contract specifics and deployment timelines.
