One of the biggest concerns about the Clarke County School District’s “one-to-one” technology policy that assigns laptops and tablets to students—replacing textbooks both at school and at home—is that those from low-income families may not have adequate internet access.
For such a high-poverty district, the number is lower than you might think—12 percent, or about 1,500 students, according to the district.
For those families, CCSD has a cut a deal with T-Mobile to provide two gigabytes of data a month for just $10, at a cost to the district of $160,000 for two years. Families on SNAP (aka food stamps) are eligible.
Students without internet access are currently able to download their study materials and homework at school. The district has also found that most of those students have some type of internet access through churches, libraries, businesses or other community centers, according to spokeswoman Anisa Sullivan Jimenez.
CCSD has also distributed hundreds of donated, refurbished laptops to parents.
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