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Oswego District 308 purchases 1,400 new Chromebooks for coming school year · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Oswego District three hundred and eight purchases one thousand, four
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  Speaker 1: hundred new chromebooks for coming school year. Written by Eric Shelkopf,
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  Speaker 1: This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  Speaker 1: to you by Everlett. Aswego School District three hundred and
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  Speaker 1: eight freshmen will have new chromebooks to use when they
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  Speaker 1: begin high school in August. The Oswego School Board recently
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  Speaker 1: approved procuring one thousand, four hundred chromebooks at a cost
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  Speaker 1: of four hundred eighty five thousand, six hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: six dollars as part of a three year lease agreement
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  Speaker 1: with Bloom of Minnesota, LLC. The cost is three forty
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  Speaker 1: six dollars and ninety cents per unit, with tariffs along
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  Speaker 1: with rising energy and material costs contributing to the price
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  Speaker 1: of a chromebook increasing by approximately twenty five percent. The
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  Speaker 1: district did not issue a request for proposals as it
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  Speaker 1: normally would. District three hundred and eight Technology director Brent
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  Speaker 1: Kiger told school board members at their April thirteenth meeting
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  Speaker 1: that was the reason the district needed to move quickly
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  Speaker 1: and why it didn't go through a normal RFP process.
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  Speaker 1: The supply chain was become very restrictive, he said. We
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  Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that we did have the devices
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  Speaker 1: on time. Kiger noted the district did verify pricing trends
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  Speaker 1: with multiple vendors and manufacturers, as well as testing sample
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  Speaker 1: devices to ensure quality and performance. We felt like we
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  Speaker 1: needed to move quickly, he said. We also heard from
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  Speaker 1: other districts that they were using an expedited process to
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  Speaker 1: procure devices. District three hundred and eight chief financial Officer
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  Speaker 1: and chief school business official Rafael Obefemi agreed. We pride
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  Speaker 1: ourselves on going through a competitive process, he said, but
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  Speaker 1: when there's a market imbalance, that makes it difficult because
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  Speaker 1: even from the initial time of having conversations with vendors,
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  Speaker 1: prices kept going on. There was no stability like last
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  Speaker 1: year of getting the best product at the best price,
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  Speaker 1: he said. The district will lease the chromebooks for three years,
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  Speaker 1: and we are hoping to keep them for at least
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  Speaker 1: double that. Kiger said the district could keep the chromebooks
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  Speaker 1: for potentially up to eight years. Board members approved the
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  Speaker 1: Chromebook refreshed proposal at their April twenty seventh board meeting.