Fall River Students Are Getting Chromebooks

It's a given that a necessity for our young people to learn is a computer or at least access to one. A new Verizon program has many students in Fall River getting a Chromebook for this upcoming school year.

Middle school students at some schools in Fall River that were awarded the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools grant program are receiving a Chromebook for the school year.

Many students are picking them up this week, while Morton Middle School has already distributed them to its students. Students receiving these computers will also get free data on these devices.

When I was in middle school there was a required computer lab that we would take that included floppy disks and typing speed exercises. Now, for many students a computer will be the only way they will learn as many are taking classes through Zoom and tests will need to be taken and submitted online.

While I think this is an absolute necessity and I'd like to applaud Verizon for providing these grants, I'm curious how students across the SouthCoast are getting access to computers and more importantly the WiFi needed to connect them online.

Let's hope that the students can grasp how to use these to get the best education under the circumstances.

What do you think? Maybe more data/wireless companies should have grant opportunities. Is this the band-aid we are putting on learning from home? Or is this a tool our students should have had all along?