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Equitable access to the internet is foundational to modern democratic society and should be categorized as a utility. Internet access is an equity call to action.
Equitable access to the internet is foundational to modern democratic society and should be categorized as a utility. Internet access is an equity call to action.
Today’s society relies on access to high-speed internet for essentially everything from education to medical appointments to shopping and banking as well as staying socially connected. The California Legislature should categorize broadband internet service as a basic utility (the same as water, electricity, and phone service). The lack of basic internet connectivity for families in remarkably large swaths of the state (rural and urban) have highlighted the inequitable access for students and therefore schools to transition to modern distance learning operations required as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. California has the opportunity to lead in seizing this historic moment of crises to begin to define internet access as a utility and bring the infrastructure for a modern democracy into the 21st Century.
Access to a device is a vital component of distance learning.
Access to a device is a vital component of distance learning.
The emergency remote learning provided by schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted an inconvenient truth that educators have known for years; inequitable access to devices impedes access to equitable education structures – thus creating barriers to modern learning for too many families. Furthermore, teachers have been called upon to implement emergency remote learning from their personal devices at home. It is unreasonable to expect that teachers in a remote learning environment can or should rely on their own incomes to supplement the tools that are used to teach students. This digital divide will continue to grow as schools begin to reopen in the Fall. Throughout the current crisis, school IT professionals have highlighted two major problems: 1) device breakage is skyrocketing, driving up repair and replacement costs for schools, and 2) many students and teachers are relying upon personal devices (or parent devices), creating data privacy and liability concerns, and backlogs of help-desk/troubleshooting questions spanning varying device manufactures and operating systems that overwhelm school IT professionals. The state must provide the dedicated on-going financial resources for schools to address these challenges through more uniform device management systems and trained staff to manage those systems. The state should also clarify data privacy laws relative to schools during this crisis.
The sudden reliance on technology for teaching requires professional development for teachers and administrators.
The sudden reliance on technology for teaching requires professional development for teachers and administrators.
Students and families are not the only ones struggling to learn how to use current technologies from home. Many teachers and administrators have been forced into using technology to deliver instruction with wildly different levels of proficiency. Schools have scrambled to assemble trainings for teachers to adapt, and are facing growing cries for help from teachers to provide them with the professional learning needed to deliver a comprehensively designed online programs of instruction as part of the distance learning requirement to keep students safe while learning in virtual classrooms. Teachers become more effective, and by extension students benefit from a deliberately designed teacher toolset that supports distance learning structures. The state’s leadership is called upon and needs to provide resources for professional development for teachers and administrators to accomplish the goal of providing fully trained educators to deliver instruction.
Students deserve to have their data protected.
Students deserve to have their data protected.
Schools have increasingly become targets of cyber-attacks. Incidents of ransomware and phishing schemes are multiplying at an ever-increasing rate. These attacks have been exacerbated as schools, teachers, and students have had to rapidly deploy online learning models to ensure children continue to receive an education at home. As mentioned above, many students and teachers are relying on their personal or their parents’ personal devices. This greatly expands the necessary security purview of IT staff in schools. As we look to reopen schools in the coming months, funding and resources are needed to effectively secure and safely manage and support systems holding teacher, staff, and student-level data.
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