Telecommunications provider Optimum, a brand of Altice, donated $30,000 to the Sedona-Oak Creek School District during a presentation on Thursday, Dec. 12, at the Sedona Performing Arts Center.

SOCSD staff plan to use the donation to purchase 101 Chromebooks for the students at West Sedona School.

“The children, as soon as they hear about this, are going to go crazy,” WSS first-grade teacher Patty Falsetto said.

“This is part of our DonorsChoose effort where the employees engage in funding projects at schools across the country,” Optimum Vice President of Government Affairs Jim Campbell said. 

“We have key markets apply for projects, and Camp Verde and Sedona are huge markets of ours. It’s part of our effort to reconnect ourselves locally with the markets.”

According to the company’s website, this is the fourth consecutive year that Optimum has donated to public schools through the DonorsChoose platform.

Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Chilton said that SOCSD has now met its goal of having a 1:1 Chromebook-to-student ratio, it will still have replacement needs.

“It’s an ongoing process,” Chilton said. “A certain number must be purchased each year, updated and replaced, as the oldest ones wear out. The school provides durable cases to protect the Chromebooks as well. A student’s backpack can be a rough place for a computer to live. All teachers use Google Classroom as a classroom and at-home learning tool, and you can see students using computers intermittently throughout the day.”

Optimum had presented $30,000 to Camp Verde Elementary School on Dec. 9, which the school will be using to purchase two 32-unit Chromebook carts.

“It’s all a team effort in our district, and I’ve been here a long time,” Falsetto said. “I probably lived here 51 years, and I’ve seen a lot of growth, but I’ve always seen the schools working together, the teachers working together, you know what is best for our kids. We have a lot of work ahead, and this will help.”