SMITHFIELD – Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell donated a number of surplus laptop computers to Johnston County Public Schools.
County commissioners approved a request by Sheriff Bizzell to donate 101 Dell laptops and 7 Lenovo laptops to the school system. Approximately 100 of the computers are in good condition. Eight others are for parts only. The computers were delivered by the sheriff’s office to the school system on Wednesday.
“As Sheriff, I am honored to partner with our County Commissioners and School Board in donating these laptops that can be used by students and staff in our school system,” Sheriff Bizzell told The Johnston County Report.
“We are fortunate to have community partners who support our students and employees. Today (Wednesday), we received a surplus of laptop computers from the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office and we look forward to analyzing the items and then distributing the items to our schools and employees as needed. We express sincere thanks and appreciation to Sheriff Bizzell, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Johnston County Board of Commissioners for the generous donation given in support of Johnston County Public Schools,” said Dr. Eric Bracy, Johnston County Public Schools Superintendent.
This is all well and good, but lest we forget that every one of those laptops were bought and paid for by citizen tax dollars!!
And they’re going to PUBLIC schools? What’s the issue?
Great photo opertunity and article just before the mid-term elections.
I’m surprised JCPS accepted this donation. If they needed used computers, they would accept donations of used computers from corporations. JCPS does not have much use for used computers. So, when Dr. Bracy says ….distributing the items to our schools and employees as needed… the as needed is the key here. He does not know what they will do with them. The only thing they could do is put them on a table and offer them to first come, first served. They will not be logged into the inventory because they are too old. JCPS already has a large number of surplus used computers. Why do they need more? I interpret Dr. Bracy’s response as him being kind and saying thank you, but then being vague about how they will use them because they don’t know what they will do with them. I see this as him not wanting to cause negative vibes between the school system and the sheriff. Sheriff Bizzell should have donated these to a charity that would then get them in the hands of students who do not have a computer. I see this as a strictly political move on his part. This article should be followed up with a story about how JCPS utilized this donation of used computers. They have policies and regulations regarding the age of technology and security specs that will work with the systems.
Can anyone be happy here? The Sheriff could have sold the computers and put the money back in the Sheriff’s Office, or thrown them in the dumpsters behind the office, but he didn’t. He donated them to the schools. But no, let’s just find something to complain about. Jeez!!!