HOUSTON — Closing the so-called ‘digital divide’ became one of the highest priorities for school districts this year. And while many students and families continue to struggle with technology issues, the divide appears to be a lot less deep.
Connectivity is crucial in a school year like this one, but far too many fell through the cracks at first.
Former teacher Carly Walker, who’s a parent of two Houston ISD students, gives the beginning of the school year a ‘C’ grade, but things have come a long way relatively quickly.
She points to what she recently noticed when her children’s school, Briarmeadow Charter, had to revert back to remote-only learning due to COVID cases.
“The feedback from parents who were in-person going to virtual was that it really did go well,” she said. “So that says a lot.”
KHOU 11 News found that 50 Houston area districts and charter schools requested well over 200,000 computer devices like laptops and iPads as the academic year began, not to mention more than 70,000 wi-fi hotspots.
“We’ve experienced some outages,” said interim HISD Superindendent Dr. Grenita Lathan
Houston ISD blamed service providers for problems on the first day back on campuses. And various districts still occasionally report connectivity issues via social media messages.
“The issue of getting the devices can more easily be solved than being able to receive reliable internet,” said Texas American Federation of Teachers President Zeph Capo
Capo says non-urban areas continue to struggle. And some districts are even thinking about installing their own cell towers.
“I actually have now a house that’s just like probably six miles outside the city of Bastrop, and even there you can’t, I can’t receive regular internet,” he said.
Issues may exist to some degree as long as the pandemic does, especially for online students who may not have adequate support at home, even if they are equipped with technology.
“I mean, I look at my children’s work so I know what they’re capable of and what’s expected,” said Walker. “But not all parents can do that, and not all parents are ex-teachers who know what going on in the classroom right? So I think there’s a divide there also”