Parents and guardians of Manteca Unified School District students have until Friday to submit signed copies of the Student Computer Equipment Agreement for the Going Digital program.

The first schools where the Panasonic 3E computers will be distributed on Wednesday, Jan. 20, are French Camp Elementary and Manteca High. Superintendent Jason Messer and other school district representatives as well as other special guests will be at French Camp School to answer questions from the news media. The event marking the official deployment of the computers will take place from 8:30 to 10 a.m. The school is located at 241 E. Fourth Street in French Camp.

Manteca High will be receiving the devices at 6:30 a.m. and the computers will be distributed to the students starting at 7:30 a.m., according to Principal Frank Gonzales.

The students will have time after that to play with their computers and learn how to use them with the help of instructional videos from the school district showing them how log on, among other things, with their teachers assisting them.

Teachers and administration staff have Surface Pro2 computers for which they receive training throughout the school year prior to the deployment of the students’ computers.

Signing the Student Computer Equipment Agreement is not mandatory for parents and guardians. However, students without the signed contract will not be able to bring the computers home. Parents and guardians who opt to sign a four-year contract will have the option of purchasing the computers at the end of that period. The students’ computers are not available in the retail market.