WDTN NEWS by: Aliah Williamson Posted: Jul 30, 2020 / 06:32 PM EDT / Updated: Jul 30, 2020 / 07:05 PM EDT
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ohio (WDTN) -According to the CEO of Learn to Earn Dayton, Thomas Lasley, PhD, one in four students in high poverty households use remote learning as little as once a week. Statistics also show that 83 percent of students in families with incomes of $100,000 or more use remote learning daily.
This is why Learn to Earn Dayton is partnering with the Montgomery County Educational Service Center and The Dayton Foundation to provide a $70,000 grant and nearly 900 Chromebooks for students.
“The Dayton Foundation is a family of funders,” said Barbra Stonerock, VP of community outreach with the Dayton Foundation. “A lot of caring people in our community help us to help others.”
This latest grant is going out to school districts in the fall facing the greatest need. So far, Northridge, Dayton, Jefferson Township and Trotwood-Madison City Schools have been the recipients of the technology.
Denise Moore, president of Trotwood Madison City School Board says they were given 300 which will help the district reach their goal of one Chromebook for every student in the district. With nearly 3,000 students, the district is working hard to prepare for at least 9 weeks of virtual learning due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s very difficult for families to have to share one Chromebook. [Sometimes] there’s three kids and they’re fighting over one Chromebook. So, this grant helps significantly when we talk about each and every child having what they need to learn,” said Moore.
The Montgomery County Educational Service Center (MCESC) is working on distributing the Chromebooks and facilitating the grants. Shannon Cox, superintendent of MCESC says these Chromebooks can help with the virtual learning but will also help usher in 21st century learning for students and teachers.
“Last year we had about 10,000 students across Montgomery County that had some kind of connectivity or device divide. That’s why this was so important,” she said. “[Now] we’re actually learning how to do it in a really intentional way that will give us the most impact for student learning.”