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The state’s Pandemic Relief Fund has equipped Trenton Public Schools with 1,200 wi-fi hotspot devices for students who have poor or no broadband internet access.
The city’s school system bought 5,000 Chromebooks in the spring when classes suddenly shifted online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, the district has identified 1,200 students who need a better connection to access instruction.
Trenton Public Schools are starting online this fall.
Families will receive a T-Mobile hotspot and one year of wi-fi service, which typically costs about $20 per month, a payment many underprivileged families in Trenton cannot afford, Trenton Schools Interim Superintendent Ronald Lee said.
He said the district is “extremely grateful for the fund’s donations, and they will help close the so-called, ’digital divide.’”
The Trenton donations are part of broader effort by the Pandemic Relief Fund to close the divide and they plan to announce support for additional districts in the coming weeks, the fund said in a statement.
“The digital divide is a real issue in New Jersey and while this donation to the Trenton district doesn’t begin to address the needs statewide, we hope it inspires others to consider donating to the fund so we can ensure every student in the state is able to access learning,” New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy, the founding chair of the Pandemic Relief Fund, said.
Several organizations donated to the fund specifically for the Trenton hotspots, including the TD Bank Foundation, NJM Insurance, Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Charitable Fund Inc. and PNC Bank.
Other donors included the Smith Family Foundation of New Jersey, the organization started by the Smith family of Trenton, who won $429 million playing the Powerball in 2016.
“Personally (the Smith Family), as graduates of Trenton Public Schools, it is truly a blessing to be in a position to provide funding to help close the digital divide for children in the city of Trenton,” Katherine N. Nunnally, the executive director of the Smith Family Foundation, said in a statement. “The partnership with New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund will afford all Trenton youth the opportunity to receive the remote education they deserve.”
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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Have a news tip or a story idea about New Jersey schools? Send it here.
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September 06, 2020 at 05:00AM
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