Digital Equity Resources

Parkland is committed to providing an equitable educational experience for all students. Part of that involves our work to close the digital divide. We are aligned with the Department of Education's National EdTech Plan, which breaks down the digital divide into three categories: 

• The Digital Use Divide, addressing opportunities to improve how students use technology to enhance their learning, including dynamic applications of technology to explore, create, and engage in critical analysis of academic content and knowledge;
• The Digital Design Divide, addressing opportunities for educators to expand their professional learning and build the capacities necessary to design learning experiences enabled by technology; and
• The Digital Access Divide, addressing opportunities for students and educators to gain equitable access to educational technology, including connectivity, devices, and digital content. This also includes accessibility and digital health, safety, and citizenship as key elements of digital access.

To address the lack of Internet access at home, Parkland has several initiatives in place to help provide students and parents with reliable wi-fi.

Parkland School District equipped with mobile wi-fi devices called Kajeets (http://www.kajeet.net).

Below are the guidelines for use:

1.   For school work only
2.   Filtered, must adhere to AUP
3.   No daily / monthly data limits
4.   For use by student who checked it out (no sharing w/other students)

In addition, the Parkland Community Library (http://www.parklandlibrary.org/) was recently renovated and has an updated Technology Center that houses computers with Internet access for public use. Directions to access their public wi-fi can be found here.  Additional information about the library hours can be found here.

An organization called everyoneon.org can match eligible households with low cost Internet service providers. The criteria for qualification can be found on the web site by entering a zip code to find local participating telecom companies that support this initiative.