Decatur Superintendent David Dude, whose district like all others has shifted exclusively to online learning, believes it’s time for the Internet to become a public utility.
Earlier this month Gov. Brian Kemp asked for feedback from state superintendents on the needs facing Georgia’s school districts, particularly infrastructure- and technology-related. Kemp made his request through the state’s various regional educational service agencies, and Dude wasted no time responding.
“I’d love to see Georgia become a state that pushes forward and [gets] Internet access to every house at a price that’s affordable and a speed that’s robust enough to do this kind of activity,” Dude said in an interview with the AJC. “That would totally change how we can approach some of learning opportunities if we have that kind of robust rollout.
“Clearly,” he added, “the Internet is not at the same level as human life’s need for water, sanitation, sewer, and things like that. But we can see at a time like this it is absolutely critical to us functioning as an economic society that most of our services are now online.”
This stance has found support in several articles appearing the past month in national publications. On March 26 the Online Quartz Magazine argues that the spread of COVID-19 proves “conclusively that the internet should be a public utility. It’s a basic necessity in the 21st century, like running water, gas, and electricity. Indeed, the United Nations in 2016 declared that Internet access is a human right.”
On March 30 Forbes Magazine cited findings from Pew Research showing that 33 million Americans (10 percent of the population) don’t use the Internet at all. But even more significant around 90 million Americans are without access to high speed broadband.
Dude admits Internet access is mostly not a problem with CSD students. He said that City Schools of Decatur has ordered 1200 Chromebooks and put out 40 Wi-Fi hot spots, which connects a computer to a cell phone network, and has another 30 on order. But he added that surrounding school districts like DeKalb, Atlanta and Fulton “may have 6,000 to 10,000 kids who don’t have Internet.”
Dude is clear in his belief that online classroom instruction is “not as effective … as in-person instruction.” But he also doesn’t know when students will return to classroom. It certainly won’t happen this year, and it may not even happen when school reopens August 1, with some U.S. colleges already committing to online for the entire fall semester.
“Frankly, [online classroom instruction] is just one of the uses,” he said. “There are a lot of things students can be doing online at other times of the year during normal times.
“But I do believe,” he continued, “that it’s inevitable that at some point [the Internet] will be treated as a utility. I don’t know exactly what it will look like …[but it will take someone] saying this is going to be a priority for our state, we’re going to make it happen … Somebody has to take that first leap.”
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