News Highlights: Helping Students Stay Connected: School Tech Workers Are Here | COVID-19
When schools closed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, it caused school districts to scramble to prepare students for virtual learning. According to Matt Kimsey, technology director for schools in Abbeville County, there were many things to consider.
“We’ve tripled the number of student devices and added a whole range of teacher laptops,” said Kimsey. According to Kimsey, getting the laptops for students and teachers was only part of the battle.
“We had enough Chromebooks for about ⅓ of our students,” said Kimsey. They assigned those Chromebooks to high school students because they were more tech-savvy and adaptable.
Not only did they not have enough Chromebooks for all students, but even after funding was allocated for technology, the companies supplying Chromebooks were inundated with requests.
“Everyone tried to order them at the same time,” Kimsey said.
They didn’t get the Chromebooks until a week before school started.
In addition to purchasing technology for students and teachers, they also had to make the computers compliant with the Children’s Internet Protection Act. Being CIPA compliant means that the computers must be equipped with filters that block inappropriate content.
“It was overwhelming to get the equipment,” said Kimsey. “We have them a week before school started.”
Jennifer Madden, director of technology at Greenwood County School District 52, said the people who work in the technology field wear a lot of hats. They are responsible for setting up network security, such as firewalls and content filters.
“We had to work after hours to solve problems when students or teachers had problems,” Madden said.
District 52 assistant inspector Paul Spadaro said making virtual learning was a trial and error.
“We’ve learned what works and what doesn’t,” said Spadaro.
One thing that is sometimes overlooked when students are virtual is what Spadaro called the ‘whole child’. Students miss out on vital services, such as counseling, and the social aspect associated with personal education.
“It’s not just about academics,” said Spadaro. “School makes other resources available.”
Daniel Frady, technical director of Greenwood County School District 51, and his team had to get creative when the pandemic closed schools in March.
“We run a drive-thru IT department,” said Frady.
Parents and students park in designated parking spaces, then call Frady on his direct line. Someone comes out and grabs the device, disinfects it and fixes the problem.
Some good things have come out of the uncertainty that comes with COVID-19. Community businesses did their best to ensure that children in the area could stay connected and learn.
Some students, especially those living in rural areas, have trouble connecting to the Internet to do their school work. Companies stepped in to help with this vital problem. Northland Cable offered 60 days of free internet to 18 families, the Piedmont Rural Telephone Co-op agreed to potentially move additional fiber farther away to help with connectivity issues.
West Carolina Rural Telephone Co-op provided equipment to help families stay connected as well.
“We’ve seen some really good relationships and have been able to work closely with others,” said Frady.
Contact writer Megan Milligan at 864-943-5644 or follow her Twitter @megan.
Via: www.indexjournal.com
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