SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Schools is giving its students a new, free opportunity to access the Internet after they leave school for the day.
The Salt Lake Education Foundation and other partners launched their ‘Classroom Beyond Our Buildings’ initiative Thursday, aiming to address a growing need for students after the final bell rings.
“The digital divide has been significant within our community,” said Salt Lake Education Foundation Director James Yapias.
Yapias says seven percent of students across the district lack home Internet connectivity.
“We have 19,000 students,” Ypias added. "So you’re looking at about 1,500 students who need this kind of support.”
So they’re bringing the support through the purchase of portable T-Mobile hotspot devices.
“We’re meeting the students at their home…learning takes place beyond the school hours,” said Yapias.
He says they’re hoping to buy up to 1,000 hotspots to help students keep learning on their phone or laptop, wherever they need to go.
He adds the devices will have a secure connection to the district’s portal…
“The content they’re receiving as well is filtered, so that way it’s all pure academic support,” Yapias said.
He says this will offer safe internet access and fill a void in the school system to bring the best educational outcomes possible across the city.
“Even in the last 10 years, we’ve seen a significant change in the way students are doing their homework,” said Yapias. "So this provides them an opportunity to close that gap.”
Yapias says they soft launched the program at the start of the academic year with 100 devices and are working their way towards their goal of 1,000.
