Technical Difficulties, Supply Shortages Among Challenges As LAUSD Launches School Year Online
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- The first day of school looked a little different this year for students and teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The second largest school district in the nation is starting the year entirely virtual, which did not come without some challenges.
Karla Meador, a parent of two LAUSD students, said that when she tried to log on to the parent portal Tuesday morning, it wouldn't work. She and her husband both work full time outside the home and are trying to juggle online learning for their two children — one is in special education and one is a high school junior.
Meador isn't the only parent struggling. On social media, many other parents complained about similar technical issues.
Parents also said they had challenges finding the proper materials to set up their child's workspace at home. While the "back-to-school" aisle at Target was stocked full of crayons and pencils, furniture and technology is scarce.
On Dell's website, Google Chromebooks are sold out. At Ikea, people waited hours to get in, only to find out most desks and chairs are out of stock. Prices have soared for kids' desks online at big box stores like Walmart.
"This is a classic supply and demand scenario where you have limited supply," said Nick Yvas, the executive director at the USC Center for Global Supply Chain Management. "You are competing for limited resources and for that, the highest paying customers will be able to secure the supply. We started out with a disruption in supply chain from end to end. So, we have a scarcity of raw material and manufacturing capacity, and this was disrupted across the globe."
As parents are trying to improvise, Yvas said he doesn't see prices coming down any time soon.
