Although you do have a point, the school could as likely have contracted a third party to do the deployment, and cut ties fast as soon as things went awry. Then the last part seems reasonable, although embellished.
I’d like to point you to this excellent video by Technology Connections.
Those already exist! Pretty hefty price (compared to your usual ereader) but very much useable. Onyx Boox has a few models iirc
Well, on the other hand, do you just understand how simple cards work? I for sure don’t and I don’t see why I would need a chip from my provider to access it’s services, if I can get a digital key instead.