Rabun students can now have Chromebooks repaired touch-free

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  • Megan Broome/The Clayton Tribune. Curtis Haban, left, was named Rabun County Board of Education vice-chairman and Steve Cabe was reappointed Chairman of the Board last week.
    Megan Broome/The Clayton Tribune. Curtis Haban, left, was named Rabun County Board of Education vice-chairman and Steve Cabe was reappointed Chairman of the Board last week.
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Submitted photo. Rabun students can now drop off their Chromebooks at special lockers for touch-free repairs.
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TIGER-- Rabun County Schools has installed new Chromebook lockers where students can have their school devices repaired touch-free. 

Greg Purcell, technology director for Rabun County Schools, discussed the devices at the Board of Education meeting last Thursday. 

He said that students will be able to drop their devices off at one of these lockers and use a replacement until their device is fixed. 

“The students will send an email to our tech support system. The technician will then instruct them to put the device in a locker, with a code. The technician will then retrieve the device and repair it,” Purcell said. “Once it is repaired, the tech will notify the student that it is in the locker ready for pickup. The student will then enter their code and only be able to retrieve their device.”

He said that the classrooms have Chromebooks that students can borrow to complete their work while their device is being repaired. 

The repairs are usually completed within 24 hours, Purcell said.

One locker is located at the high school and the other located at the middle school. 

Purcell also discussed where there are free WiFi locations in Rabun County. 

“There are places they can go and use their internet service,” Purcell said. 

He said that students can go to https://www.rabuncountyschools.org/ and click on the “resources” tab at the far right. Then go down and click the “free WiFi locations” tab. 

Students can use free WiFi in these locations: 

-Rabun County Board of Education front parking lot, 963 Tiger Connector

-Rabun County High School tennis court parking lot below the stadium

-Rabun County Civic Center and pavilion buildings in the back

-Rabun County Library

-Rabun County Recreation Department from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

-Mountain Lakes Medical Center parking lot

-McDonald’s parking lot area.

-Starbucks inside Ingles

-Chick-fil-A

-Clayton First United Methodist Church 

-Wendy’s and Burger King

If there is a need to move the district to virtual learning, school buses with WiFi will be parked in these parking lots: 

-Piggly Wiggly

-Battle Branch Baptist Church 

-Persimmon Fire Department 

-Liberty Baptist Church

-Grace Bible Church 

In other business, 

Board members selected Steve Cabe as Chairman and Curt Haban as Vice-Chairman of the board. 

Cindi Dean, director of business operations and human resources, discussed the financial reports. 

 “We’re in very good financial shape,” Dean said. She said that the sales tax collections for the past couple months have been very strong. 

Sales tax collections received in November were $407,756.45 and sales tax collections received in December were $376,553.82. 

Superintendent April Childers discussed how the recent transition back to face-to-face classroom instruction went. 

“Attendance was what we had hoped for coming back to school this week,” Childers said. She commended the teachers for doing a great job and said that the school is still implementing the COVID-19 safety measures. 

“We’re still pleased with our plan,” Childers said. 

Board members approved renovations to the tennis courts at the school. 

“It’s renovating the current tennis courts and adding one additional one where we can host tournaments,” Childers said. 

Transportation Director Marty Dixon said that four new school buses were received. 

Board members approved field trips for the year. Childers noted that due to COVID-19 safety measures, field trips were limited to competitions only. 

December 2020 Employees of the Month were recognized. 

Rabun County Primary School chose Shanda Hunnicutt and Cindy Woods, Rabun County Elementary School chose Elise Allen and Audrey Decker, Rabun County Middle School chose Lisa Mooney and Kim Bobo, and Rabun County High School chose Whitney Rider and Sarah York. 

The transportation employee of the month was Kim Hicks, the nutrition employee was Ruth English and the county office employee was Cindi Dean.