Date: July 15, 2008 Date: To: School board members of Mountain View School District To: 244

From: Shaun BassScience teacher and technology From: coordinator Subject: The digital divide Subject: I am writing to you in order to address the digital divide that exists not only in our nation, but right here in Grangeville Idaho. You might ask, what is the digital divide? The digital divide is the gap that exists between people in a community that can effectively access and use informational technology and those that do not have access or cannot effectively use this technology. The reasons for this gap are many. The most prevalent reasons are: 1. Physical lack of access 2. Lack of training in how to use this technology. Not all students in our schools have a computer at home nor do they have access to the Internet. They have little access to technology outside the home. For example, there is no time set up outside of class that they can use our computers at school. There is some access to computers and the Internet at our local library, however this access is very limited. This limited access puts these students and community members at a great disadvantage, as they do not have access to the same informational exchange and services as the people who have this access. The ultimate problem is that our students and community fall behind if we do not correct the reasons for the gap. We are becoming a more global nation. According to a report put out by the U.S. Department of Commerce (A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet), nearly two-thirds of the people in the U.S. used a computer at home, work or school in 2002. Bear in mind that not all of these individuals had the same access. However, without any access, the other 1/3 will be left behind socially and economically. As has always been the case, those people at a socio-economic disadvantage have less access to quality education. The Internet provides access to information no matter what the socioeconomic background. This is a huge advancement over past methods of dispersing knowledge. All that is needed is training and access. The expansion of new technology has strengthened our economy and broadened our horizons. With these new technologies we can access information like never before, engage in on-line commerce, gain access to government programs and take on-line classes. To be a part of this, our students and community members need to have access. As a school system, we need to ensure that we close the divide in Grangeville. So, now that I have outlined the problem, we need to address ways to fix it. I have several specific ideas. These ideas can be grouped together under general headings. I have outlined them in this manner for you. 1) Training and support for teachers. We need to have more in-services that directly address how to use the technology that we have in the school. If the teachers have a better understanding of how to use the equipment and access that we have, they will be better able to pass this knowledge on to the students. To accomplish this we can begin with two things:

Memorandum

a) Use one of the in-service days that we already have and focus on technology training. b) Expand the hours of the technology coordinators, so they have more time to assist the teachers in using technology. 2) After school access. As I stated above, students that do not have access to technology and information at home, do not have an opportunity to access the technology at school outside of class time. I have some ideas that will help address this issue: a) Open up the library lab during lunch, so that after the students finish eating, they can access the computer lab in the library. The librarian eats at her desk anyway, so she can watch the lab while she eats. b) Many of the teachers work in their rooms after school and would not mind having a few students work on the computers available in their rooms. We need to make the students aware of this opportunity. c) See if there are teachers or knowledgeable community members that would volunteer to open up the computer labs after school for an hour or two. d) Run some after school programs in conjunction with kids club that gives these kids access to technology. Many of the students who go to kids club after school are the students who tend to have more limited access to technology. 3) Partner with the local Forest Service. There are several things we can do with this partnership: a) Have volunteers come in and share their knowledge about the technology they use. I have had several volunteers from the Grangeville office of the Nez Perce National Forest come in to my classes and teach about the technology they use in their job. Some of the training the students have received has been in depth. We even had one employee come in and teach us about programming. b) See if they would donate the computers that they have left over after they upgrade. We would not want obsolete computers, but sometimes when they upgrade to faster computers, they get rid of computers that would work in our network. c) Encourage students to do work release at the Forest Service, focusing on areas of technology use. The Forest Service is one of the few places in Grangeville that has access to this kind of technology and expertise. 4) Pursue technology grants. Several of the teachers in the district including myself are accomplished grant writers. We also have some community members that have voiced interest in helping to write grants. We should tap this talent. All these people need is some assistance with time and coordination from the districts administration. 5) Advertise our technology needs to the community. We have had some generous donations in the past to help us address our technology needs. If we let the community know what we lack, this might encourage more donations. 6) We might need to start adding a technology section to our levies. As our community has begun to step up and pass levies the past several years, we may need to ask them to assist in our technology needs. 7) Begin a community coalition to help bridge this divide. There is a great tool kit provided by the U.S. Department of Education that outlines the procedure for how to

help our community bridge the digital divide. (http://www.ed.gov/Technology/tool_kit.html) As you can see, I have thought about this problem and how to address it for some time. Some of my suggestions can be implemented right away with little or no cost to the district. I urge you to implement these right away. Some of the suggestions may take some time and/or money. I think to help make these suggestions work; we need to put together a coalition as outlined in the aforementioned tool kit. I think if we work together to address the digital divide, we will narrow this gap for our students and for our community. This will help to ensure the success of our students and our community. Thank you for your time and commitment to our students, our community and our schools. Shaun Bass