by Megan Schiffres
HEATHSVILLE—To help Northumberland County Public Schools (NCPS) provide equitable internet accessibility to its students while they are taught online, the board of supervisors on Thursday, September 10, approved funding to purchase distance learning equipment and a new school bus.
School superintendent Holly Wargo petitioned the board for funding to help meet the demand for internet connectivity through “hotspots.”
“This program is intended to help bridge the digital gap and ensure educational equity. Currently, NCPS has provided 80 hotspots and we have ordered an additional 48 hotspots, for a total of 128. The current request list features 260 students or families who have identified a need for the hotspots,” Wargo said.
The district has already spent $93,000 to fund the purchase of these 128 hotspots and to buy between 10 and 12 months of service for each device the district already has, according to finance director Donna Booth.
By a unanimous 5-0 vote, the board authorized the purchase of an additional 132 hotspots and service for those devices until the end of December. The total cost… [to-view-more]