Every one of the 23,000 Manteca Unified students had a working Going Digital device on Friday.

It’s a major bounce back from mid-December when 1 in 23 — or 1,000 students — were without tablets or laptops due to breakage or the need to address software issues created when students fail to keep tablets charged.

Superintendent Jason Messer said the district’s Information Technology Department is confident they can continue to be at zero students without working devices throughout the rest of the school year. It was a year ago this month the district rolled out the aggressive kindergarten through 12th grade deployment of tablets.

The district addressed the problem by buying additional devices, stepping up student education on the proper use of the devices and streamlining the repair process by bringing more repairs in-house.



All toilets flushing

at Manteca High

Manteca Unified Assistant Superintendent Clarke Burke along with Manteca High administrators and maintenance personnel walked through the Manteca High campus on Wednesday.

They literally flushed every toilet, tried every water fountain and wriggled every rail to make sure there were no health and safety issues in the aftermath of last week’s board workshop where student and faculty complained about maintenance issues.

Burke said there was a portable restroom that had leaking roof issues that are being addressed.

Burke said not only did every toilet and urinal flush but none were leaking water. All water fountains produced water flows that you were able to drink from while none of the rails wiggled.

The assistant superintendent said the issue some had with urine on floors has to do with how a few students aren’t using toilets and urinals properly. He noted that comes down to students being careful not to be carless and having pride in their school.

That, by the way, isn’t an issue that is strictly at Manteca High.

It is why all school bathrooms are designed so they can be hosed down daily by custodian staffs.