I would guess more than half of Oakland’s Flatland families are worrying about food. They also are worrying about rent. And when that will be due. Some are getting pressure to pay right now. They can’t. How much money do you think they have to pay for internet? You know the answer. So, when I…
Internet for All
Internet Is Now a Right
To fully participate in school, now and going forward, every child needs and deserves high speed internet access. We are dedicated to that fight at the local, state and national level.
The coronavirus pandemic didn’t create the digital divide, but it has exposed once and for all the deep and unacceptable inequities that exist in our education system. Our goal is to emerge from this pandemic with a more equitable and durable internet infrastructure that guarantees that every child that needs access, can get it, free with no strings attached.
High-speed internet is no longer a luxury or a privilege. It is an essential utility — like electricity and telephone — and should be treated as such. Our political and business leaders should be held accountable for making this possible and ensuring that every child has access to the educational opportunities our country promises.
- Former education secretary Arne Duncan writes in the Washington Post that “the FCC can give Internet access to all Americans during this pandemic.”
- Oakland’s Dirk Tillotson wrote in Blavity that The FCC Needs To Act Now To Ensure All Low-Income Students Have Home Internet.
- In Philadelphia, educator Zachary Wright says internet providers need to step up and “Let Children Learn.”
- In Kentucky, teacher Garris Landon Stroud urges the FCC to fight for all poor families to be connected to the internet.
California’s Timid and Rickety Toll Bridge over the Digital Divide, What Helsinki Teaches Us
The State’s answers on the digital divide lacks imagination, staying power, and enforcement. We can do better, and there are plenty of examples of cities that are. The Department of Education recently announced its digital divide task force, which had about as many teeth as George Washington. Here’s how they describe it’s powers, “The task…
No Internet, No School; The Latest Data on Equity, Access, and the Educational Impact of COVID
Research on COVID-era schooling is starting to emerge, and it is exposing huge gaps in access that threaten to widen our current opportunity gaps. One of the biggest issues is access to broadband in underserved communities. Without reliable internet these families are left outside the virtual schoolhouse door. And according to research, students that are…
We Did It, Comcast Closed it’s Hole in “Free Internet” Access, Every Other Company Needs to as Well
Students need to be online to access school. There can be no barriers to access during this crisis. There can be no poll taxes on the information superhighway. When families complained that they couldn’t actually get the free internet promised by Comcast, you responded. We got thousands of signatures. And Comcast listened. They changed their…
Digital Apartheid in the Age of COVID, Making the Right to Online Access for ALL Students a Reality
During segregation at least we had dilapidated schools, and the backs of buses to sit in. For today’s digital second-class citizens, those families without access to the internet, they can’t even get into the digital schoolhouse door. The digital divide for the unconnected is a cliff in the age of remote schooling. Either you are…