Tech Equity in Rural, Low-Socioeconomic, Minority classrooms.

Hello there! My name is Rachel Armfield, and I am an eleventh-year teaching veteran. I currently teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Science in a low-socioeconomic, rural, and majority-minority school. I have been in this teaching space for the last three years, but before this, I have taught at almost exclusively Title 1, rural schools in various grades and subjects. I am usually placed in these schools because I can thrive in work environments that many won’t consider working in.

The issue of tech equity in these schools goes deeper than just access. I am also, not going to sugar-coat this and pretend this is an issue that is anything other than a parental accountability problem.

Title One Schools in Louisiana are required to offer 1 to 1 devices to every student. These students were required to access the internet during the entire COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to this, government subsidies covered hot spot locations, and internet vouchers to cover the expenses. These programs are still in effect.

Currently, at my school in particular, all students have a Chromebook that is assigned by serial number to each student. Yet, every day, Chromebooks are lost, intentionally damaged, left in places they don’t belong, and fail to return to the Chromebook carts in the afternoon to be charged for the next day. Parents are charged fees to cover the cost of the keyboards and screens when they pop the keys off and pop the screens off, but there is no real accountability because if they don’t want to pay it, they don’t pay it, and there is no repercussion. Since we are not allowed to fail students more than twice, they know they won’t be held accountable. Parents will blame other children, siblings, or even teachers for their child not having a Chromebook before they take accountability for their children’s behavior. We can’t start bridging the “tech gap” until students and parents are being held accountable for their part in their own children’s education.

Schools and Schoolboards are doing their part, but parents and students are not doing theirs. There are a select few parents who understand the struggle, but there are far more who don’t care to acknowledge the problem.