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Advisory meeting spotlights digital divide, community groups offer training and device support
Summary
Participants at the Holyoke advisory meeting emphasized a local digital divide that limits students’ access to online instruction and district communication. Organizers and community groups discussed surveys, device distribution, hotspots and training to address gaps.
Community members and facilitators at the advisory team meeting said inequitable access to internet and devices is a major obstacle for Holyoke students and families and urged the district to pair device distribution with long‑term connectivity and training plans.
Eric Weiss, the PVPC facilitator, presented regional data on “digital inequity,” concluding that “plain and simple, those who have means have much more access to the Internet than those who don't,” and that the gap affects education, health and access to services. Weiss told the group that differences in household access are tied to income and race in the region and urged the advisory team to treat digital access as an ongoing district priority.
Participants detailed how the district’s distribution of Chromebooks and other devices—largely purchased with federal ESSER pandemic funds—does not automatically solve access problems if families lack home internet, device support, or training. Attendees suggested prioritizing students with greatest need, providing hotspots or subsidized home connections, restoring late buses or supervised after‑school computer access, and teaching students and parents how to use school platforms rather than assuming familiarity.
Local organizations offered concrete support. Holyoke Media and other community groups described existing programs and open hours for device help, digital literacy courses, and short‑term hotspot or device lending to bridge gaps while the district develops a longer‑term plan. One community speaker said the city has “a big initiative… to get everybody equity across the board in the digital literacy area” and described open‑hours training sessions and a year of hotspot support where funding permits.
The group noted operational questions: how the district will fund device replacement once ESSER funding ends, whether one‑to‑one device programs remain the best model, and the need for consistent expectations about device return and inventory accountability. Attendees also emphasized multilingual outreach, noting Spanish translations in district materials were often poor and that the district must support other languages spoken in Holyoke.
Organizers said they will include digital equity as a subject for the advisory team’s next meetings and will collect community feedback through the district survey; participants asked the advisory team to report recommended, fundable actions for connectivity, device maintenance and training.
