Photo provided An exterior view of the Bartholomew County Public Library.
A local school system and library will receive federal grant funding designed to help fill technology gaps.
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. and the Bartholomew County Public Library have been awarded funding from the Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Connectivity Fund.
BCSC has been granted approximately $940,000 that will fully fund a number of device purchases, including Chromebooks for kindergarteners. The county library has been granted a little under $47,000 that will fund hotspots and laptops, with patrons being able to check out these devices.
The Emergency Connectivity Fund was created to provide funding for eligible schools and libraries to “provide the tools and services their communities’ need for remote learning during the COVID-19 emergency period.”
According to BCSC Director of Technology Nick Williams, the school corporation’s funding will pay for 1,000 touchscreen Chromebooks “to move our kindergarten classrooms to 1:1.”
“They will still have 1:3 iPads,” he added. “Kindergarten has increased needs based on the new English and Language Arts adoption, as well as eLearning for inclement weather.”
The grant will also fund 2,180 1:1 device replacements for first, fifth and ninth grade students and provide 600 Chromebooks for elementary and middle school staff. These staff members’ current laptops are in their seventh year of use and are not being updated by Google anymore.
The Bartholomew County Public Library will also be using some of its $46,992.70 grant on laptops, said library director Jason Hatton.
Valerie Baute, the library’s outreach manager, said that the library received funds for 40 Chromebooks and 10 Windows laptops. An estimated 25 of the Chromebooks will be equipped with Verizon service and circulated, with five of these going to the Hope branch for circulation.
“Of the other 15, we will be using them as a classroom set,” said Baute. “Organizations or teachers could borrow them, or we can use them ourselves in programming. These would be used with WiFi, but we could equip them with the Verizon service in the future if we need to.”
The library plans to circulate all of the Windows laptops, though one or two may be available specifically for “in-library checkout usage.”
Hatton said that the library’s grant also goes toward 15 MiFi hotspots with Verizon service for patrons to check out and seven “high-powered” hotspots for Bookmobile, Book Express and “to deploy in partnership with other entities to provide internet to their clients.”
They’re also purchasing one portable high-powered hotspot that allows a larger number of connections. The device will be used to provide WiFi at locations where the library sets up “pop-up services,” such as the downtown farmer’s market.
“The MiFi and Chromebooks are being processed and are close to circulating,” said Baute. “We’re still waiting on the other items to arrive.”
