All ICCSD staff members have received several email notices over the past couple of months regarding our upcoming iPad update project, which will begin at the end of the school year. I’ve received a number of questions with regard to this project, and wanted to provide some overview information for those of you who use – or have students who use – iPads.
Project Overview
All ICCSD-owned iPads – this includes those purchased with building, department, grant, or PTO funds – must be turned in to your building office or the ESC tech center by June 1st, 2018. iPads will be reimaged and connected to our new management system, at which point they will be redeployed back to you. The purpose of this project is to bring all of our iPads under a unified management system that will allow us to easily deploy and recover application licenses, improve security and manageability, and to identify and fix problems with devices.
Timeline
- June 1st, 2018: all iPads must be turned in. Those that have not been turned in will cease to function at this point in time.
- July 31st, 2018: all iPads will have been repaired (if necessary), enrolled in our management server, updated, and returned to schools
If you or your student(s) require use of an iPad(s) during the summer, please email Josh Reynolds (reynolds.joshua@iowacityschools.org) to set up an expedited timeframe to have your iPad(s) worked on and returned to you.
Will my iPad be retired?
For 99.74% of you, the answer is no. The only iPads we will be retiring this summer are iPad 1 devices, of which we only have 7 actively deployed in the district (and we doubt that most of those are still functional). The vast majority of our iPads are iPad 2 and iPad mini devices and newer, and these will be updated and returned to schools for continued use next year.
I want to keep my case(s) or other accessories; what do I do?
We recommend that you return only the iPad itself, and keep your cases, chargers, stylus, adapters, etc. You may not receive exactly the same iPad in return, but you will receive an iPad of the exact same model, age, and storage capacity.
What about the apps and data on my iPad?
Most users should follow the instructions included in the Helpdesk’s “iPad Notification” email sent to all staff on May 3rd. If you have data that you are concerned about retaining, please email Josh Reynolds to work through alternatives.
Will I still have access to my apps?
Yes. To make sure that your apps will be available, please fill out an iPad App Request form; this does not need to be filled out for common apps that are broadly-used within the district.
I have an iPad that I don’t want back; what do I do?
If you have an iPad that you don’t currently use, please fill out this form to turn in an unused iPad.
My iPad was new this year; do I still need to turn it in?
Yes, all iPads must be turned in by June 1st, 2018.
Will this process happen every year?
No, this is a one-time process. While there are no guarantees that we’ll never need to mount a similar effort in the future, this is the only time in the foreseeable future that we’ll need to collect iPads en masse.