I had recently visited an elementary school (private) where they were actively using 3D printers and Arduino boards.
That said, they are certainly not the common case, and I fear that your cynicism is well-placed.
What might be better for many such schools is to give the boards as a reward to the "top science" or "top math" student for a given grade level. I suspect it would get a lot more use.
Best chance I think it has in education is in small after school clubs for those interested. But its always going to need a decent teacher to lead it. Well, maybe not a teacher but knowledgeable parent?
One of the organisations mentioned is Code Club[1], who do exactly that - they run small after school clubs, with volunteer programmers running them (and with a teacher to monitor the kids). One of the founders, Linda Sandvik, spoke at HN London a couple of months ago.
They're always looking for volunteers, so anyone here with some technical knowledge who would like to help kids learn computer engineering, give them a look!
Sounds like a good school! Good to hear, even if it is private. My comment only stands for state schools. State school usually have swathes of kit (mine had CNC lathes, mills and other nice stuff) but it is never used other than to show off at parents evenings.
As an ex-top math and top science student, we probably already would have one. Back in my day I had the equivalent - a BBC master, a Casio FX-7000G and a well stocked cupboard of desoldered electronic components :)
That said, they are certainly not the common case, and I fear that your cynicism is well-placed.
What might be better for many such schools is to give the boards as a reward to the "top science" or "top math" student for a given grade level. I suspect it would get a lot more use.