Milwaukee Public Schools to Receive Hotspots, Tablets, Smartphones from Sprint
The largest school district in the state of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), will be receiving some tech handouts from Sprint for the 2017-2018 school year. As part of the company’s 1Million Project — which aims to deliver high-speed internet access to 1 million high school students nationwide — more than 2,500 students at 25 MPS high schools will each receive either a hotspot device, tablet or smartphone.
About 70 percent of K–12 teachers now assign internet-based homework assignments and projects, but there are still close to an estimated 5 million families in the United States without internet access, Sprint cites on the 1Million Project site. The company launched the initiative to address the “digital divide” that some students without adequate home internet access face when they are unable to complete such assignments and fall behind academically.
MPS students will be receiving devices that come with 3GB of high-speed LTE data (with unlimited data available at 2G speeds if usage exceeds that amount). Students can keep their device up to four years while they are in high school no cost, according to initiative site. Additionally, devices are equipped with filters to block adult content that cannot be disabled and are Free Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) compliant.
This fall, the district will join hundreds of other high schools for the national rollout, according to a news release. Participating MPS high schools include:
To learn more about the initiative, watch the video below.
About the Author
Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].