Schools will continue to remain closed for the remainder of the school year, but Madison Metropolitan School District staff are working toward improving virtual learning for students and staff, specifically through a lens of equity, district officials said in a virtual press conference Wednesday..
“In all of our planning and in every decision we’ve made over the last couple of months in response to the pandemic,” Interim Superintendent Jane Belmore said, “we have asked ourselves these questions: what are the potential, unintended consequences of a decision or plan? How do we plan to mitigate against those unintended consequences? Who may benefit and who is disadvantaged by a decision? How are our communities of color affected? How will our students with disabilities and language learning needs be impacted?”
Some of those decisions include new programs aimed at highlighting marginalized voices. Nichelle Nichols, executive director of equity, partnership and engagement, announced new projects to amplify black excellence. These new projects are supposed to offer opportunities for youth and families to engage in virtual settings.
Some of those include a writing workshop collaboration with Umoja magazine, an African-American owned magazine, a series of family-related projects under Urban Triage and an opportunity to celebrate juneteenth with the Kujichagulia Madison Center for Self-Determination.
“[The workshops] will be held online and then they will do a final publication of youth voices in a special edition,” Nichols said. “We are really looking forward to all of these opportunities to see how virtual learning and engagement will hold steady.”
Since the start of virtual learning, MMSD has sent more than 20,000 chromebooks to students. However, there are at least 3,000 students and 1,900 households that do not have access to reliable internet or have the kind where internet keeps dropping, said Chad Wiese, executive director of building services.
“Not all of our students have access to the internet,” he said. “This is not just a school district issue, this is a nationwide issue in terms of making it a public utility. The Internet is no longer a ‘nice-to-have,’ it is a necessity, and even more so with our current circumstances.”
To address this, the school district partnered with the Madison Library to deploy “dream busses,” which have the ability to transmit wireless internet. The busses will park in a neighborhood and students can then connect to the internet.
MMSD is also installing long-range wireless access points to five schools: Leopold, Mendota, Toki-Orchard Ridge, Lincoln and Falk. These access points will give families the ability to walk or drive to those sites and log onto the wifi with the issued devices.
The school board also approved the purchase of 1800 wireless hotspots with enough data to last the district six months. The hotspots will be delivered to households in need and will arrive mid-May.
Additionally, MMSD has added resources to their COVID-19 site to support staff, students and families. Those include tips on wellness during COVID-19, and resources for more significant challenges.
Additionally, Dr. Armando Hernandez, the assistant director for integrated health, launched a weekly series called “Coping During COVID-19,” to provide strategies for families. The series is available on Facebook live in both English and Spanish.
“This is a lot for our students, families and staff to manage and we want to make sure that we’re providing all necessary support,” said Jay Affeldt, executive director of student & staff support. “Fundamentally we know that relationships are so critical and working through the additional stress and uncertainty. We’re providing additional resources to our teachers to help make sure we’re reinforcing relationships and building community through virtual learning as much as possible.”
