Newfield Central School District is a rural school district located just outside of Ithaca, NY. District demographics extrapolated from NYSED BEDS data indicate that Newfield is the second most diverse district in Tompkins County with regard to Black and Multiracial students with 11% of our students identifying as multiracial and 4.8 % identifying as black. Just over 21% of Newfield students classify as students with special needs (Tompkins County average: 15%) and 62.9% are economically disadvantaged (Tompkins County average: 39%) (New York State Education Department, n.d.). Newfield is the only category 4 (high needs-rural) school district in the county.
Our district's digital story provides a jarring juxtaposition to those of other regional school districts in Tompkins County in both preparation for and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Five of the six school districts in Tompkins County were 1:1 school districts pre-pandemic. Only Newfield students were left without 1:1 devices in March of 2020. Innovative and inclusive teaching and learning environments, Maker and STEAM spaces are non-existent. The inadequacies of the brick and mortar are compounded by the lack of availability and access to broadband internet service for large swatches of the population. The lack of broadband availability created deeper layers of isolation for our students, especially those from marginalized populations, due to the inability to connect with the learning community. Our educators found themselves in the deep end of the pool with regard to online/remote instruction due to a lack of experience and engagement with instructional technologies. Difficulties our teachers experienced in connecting with students were exacerbated by a lack of quality professional learning opportunities focused on instructional technologies and the absence of a learning management system. Suffering through the inequities that the pandemic surfaced has uncovered three immediate needs for our learning community:
Access to Broadband
Inclusive, instructionally and technologically rich learning environments
High quality professional development focused on antiracism, diversity, equity, accessibility, inclusion, and technology.
Learning Technology Grant funding will provide the district with the means to alleviate digital injustice at its roots via an aggressive student activism approach to supporting acquisition of universal broadband access for the rural community. Additionally, funding will work to build an infrastructure that supports progressive, modern, technologically-rich spaces and will endeavor to provide high quality, digitally rich, future-facing professional learning opportunities. Funds will also provide support for the district to continue our Antiracist, Equity, and Inclusion (AEI) work with our in district AEI committees, Dr. Sharroky Hollie of The Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning (CCRTL), and other consultants focused on diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion and how these intersect with digital equity and excellence.