DLA Disposition Services helps Navy send underused tablets back to school

More than 300 tablets that once sat unused at a Navy training command are now helping middle school students learn.

The Naval Construction Training Center at Port Hueneme, California instructs Navy and Air Force students in the construction trades.

Joseph "Joe" Layman, assistant department head for the information technology department at NCTC said the tablets could no longer handle the training requirements.

That left more than 300 tablets sitting in a storeroom with no immediate use.

Layman saw an opportunity to put the equipment to use at a local school district.

Layman emailed DLA Disposition Services to find out how the NCTC could donate the tablets to a local school.

The person who first responded was Fernando Rojas, disposal service representative at DLA Disposition Services at Camp Pendleton, Calf.

Rojas said he went through the steps with Layman on how to turn in property, but when he found out that the Navy wanted to "donate" the laptops to a specific school. He knew this was a chance to help give back to the community.

"I was more than thrilled to know that there was a chance these tablets may go to a middle school vs going to a shredder," Rojas said.

Rojas explained to Layman that The Department of War has the Computers for Learning program where useful IT equipment can be transferred to schools and educational nonprofit organizations, and that DLA Disposition Services plays a hugh part in it.

Rojas then reached out to Brandi Fahling, a property disposal specialist at DLA Disposition Services' HQ in Battle Creek, Michigan for guidance.

Fahling works in Reutilization/Transfer/Donation, commonly referred to as RTD. "The generator registered with RTD web and directed the turn-in to the school's cart," she said. "This was one where the generator and the school worked together to provide this wonderful opportunity to this school."

"The CFL team were the ones to help the school, all I did was give Mr. Layman the information on what the school needs to do," Rojas said. "The CFL team as well as the RTD branch are the real MVP'S."

Layman said that DLA Disposition Services helped him and the school navigate the process.

The Ventura Unified School District information technology team configured 40 of the tablets to support Balboa's art curriculum and students' digital literacy.

Students will use the devices with online creative graphic design platforms. They also will use the former Navy tablets to design and execute custom projects on the school's precision desktop laser cutter and engraver.

The remaining tablets will be used to provide students with access to research tools, class assignments and other digital enrichment activities.

Balboa Middle School serves students in grades six through eight. At the beginning of the current school year, 843 students were enrolled.

For the school, the donation provides an opportunity to change how students access technology.

Lena Layman, a visual arts teacher with the school said the district currently uses devices which cost approximately $300, with warranties and other licensing bringing the cost closer to $400.

Because the district must maintain a 1-to-1 device-to-student ratio and the Navy tablets cannot replace the devices the school uses, the donation does not technically reduce the district's device budget, she said.

"However, this donation is instrumental in allowing Balboa to begin phasing out the 1:1 model where students take their devices back and forth from home to school," Lena Layman said.

Without the donation, the school would have fallen short by more than 100 devices this year, with the shortfall growing in subsequent years.

"I'm glad it really went through and once it got finished it was it was pretty exciting," Joe Layman said.

By working with DLA Disposition Services, NCTC was able to move unused equipment out of storage and into classrooms where students can put it to work.