Statewide effort launched to get computers and internet to Idaho students
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Idaho Business for Education (IBE) is announcing a statewide initiative called the Community Activation Project to help students continue their learning while the school buildings across Idaho are closed.
The two goals of this project are to get devices into the hands of thousands of students who do not have them and to provide connectivity to those students who cannot access the internet at home so all students can do online learning.
As a community project, IBE is looking for businesses and individuals throughout the state to donate their used laptops. The computers will then be scrubbed clean of data and sanitized by volunteers.
“This project is mission critical to the thousands of students in our state who cannot learn remotely without computers and other devices or internet connections at their homes,” said Rod Gramer, President and CEO of Idaho Business for Education. “IBE is partnering with educators, other community groups and state education leaders to close this digital divide among our students.
IBE has formed seven teams across the state to help its local-area school districts and students.
- Panhandle Team #1 (Sandpoint): Chair, Brent Carr, bcarr@litehouseinc.com
- Panhandle Team #2 (CDA): Chair, Judy Meyer, sfmeyer@aol.com
- Northcentral Idaho Team (Lewiston): Chair, Lori McCann, lmccann@lewiston.com
- Eastern Idaho Team #1 (Idaho Falls): Chair, Aaron Johnson, aaron.johnson@bateman-hall.com
- Eastern Idaho Team #2 (Pocatello): Chair, Roger Gibson, roger.gibson@bayer.com
- Eastern Idaho Team #3 (Twin Falls): Chair, Shawnee Kyle, shawnee@valleynic.net
- Treasure Valley Team (Canyon County): Chair: Alishia Jonas-SW, alishiajonas@kendallauto.com
"We hope businesses and individuals can help us with donations of their unused computers and other resources to get connectivity to our students," Gramer said. "If you can contribute to the cause, IBE is looking for donated devices and for volunteers to help us prepare computers for distribution to the students.”
