Nashville Mayor John Cooper is directing $24 million in funding from the federal CARES Act to provide every public school student in Nashville-Davidson County with a laptop.
And students who need internet connectivity will get it.
This, according to the city’s COVID-19 website.
“This investment is sufficient for Dell Computers to provide Metro Nashville with up to 90,000 laptops for the projected 84,740 students who will be enrolled in traditional and charter schools in the upcoming school year,” according to the website.
“The cost of each computer will be just above $200 per device, a significant reduction from their list price.”
Earlier this summer, MNPS surveyed families to determine how many families had access to the Internet. Fifteen percent of families who responded to the survey reported that they did not have internet access. Adjusting for no respondents, MNPS has estimated that 20 percent of their families lack internet access, the website said.
“To meet the needs of these families, the $24 million is also sufficient to pay for up to 17,000 mobile Internet hotspots. MNPS is entering into an agreement that will provide MNPS students with mobile Internet hotspots. Metro is still negotiating with vendors, but the cost of the Internet hotspot service would be no more than $20/month, a significant reduction from their list price. Hotspot devices will be distributed to students along with their laptops,” according to Nashville’s COVID-19 website.
“The cost of this investment in Nashville’s future will be up to $24 million (still negotiating with vendors). Funding will come from the $121 million allocated to Nashville through the federal CARES Act.”
At a press conference Monday, Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Adrienne Battle called this “a massive step towards equity.”
“One of the biggest challenges our school district faces is the digital divide. Some students have multiple devices to help them learn, talk to their teachers remotely, and complete assignments, [but] many do not. Thousands of our students don’t even have wi-fi. That can make remote learning a big challenge,” Battle said.
“But I know we have the capacity in the city between Metro Nashville Public Schools and our public, private, and non-profit partners to bridge that divide. We are a city built on generosity and a place where people pitch in to help their fellow citizens succeed. And that is why we are here. Because Mayor Cooper has stepped up to help fill that void.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mayor Cooper with Students” by Mayor John Cooper.
Meanwhile in public schools in Nashville and abroad students are less intelligent than my generation and of course mine less than the previous generation. I do not have the greatest vocabulary but it is above average or maybe it’s average. I use words that my daughter who’s on the honor roll in advanced classes and she’s always asking what’s that word mean. Really and why do I have to help with Algebra homework that is made to be rediculously absent of ease in learning. I am proud to help my kids learn but you guys are graduating people that are not ready, so “are you smarter than an 8th grader” pffff yes by far and I’m 46 years old.
The 121 million dollars allocated to Nashville would go a long ways toward reducing the budget deficit. Cooper is simply “buying” votes with tax-payers money. Disgusting!
Well, so much for using MY tax money wisely. Put the kids back in the classroom where they belong. Online “learning” has been a failure and adding millions of dollars of laptops and hotspots is not going to make a difference in a fundamentally flawed approach to learning. As bad as the classroom results have been and continue to be distance learning is even worse.
Cooper is a miserable failure as Mayor. Nashville has been taken again, worse than the previous two mayors. This misuse of Covid funds is just typical for the crooked Mayor. If Nashville had a mayor with leadership qualities , this could be a great city as we have so much going for Nashville and the main thing we want to go away are useless politicians like Cooper, his useless backbencher brother also!.