EdSurge

Keri Rodrigues, a mother of five boys, knows the value of screens. For her boys, four of whom receive school accommodations, screens serve a practical purpose at school. “When you get a kid who's got [a learning plan] for anxiety and a substitute teacher that hasn't read his 504 [plan] and there's nobody there to de-escalate him, he's got to use his phone to call mom so I can FaceTime with him and do a breathing exercise,” Rodrigues says. But this use of screens bumps against a new concern.

The extra money that flowed from the federal government during the pandemic has left districts in New Mexico with a problem. The pandemic boosted internet access for students. That’s in part because school districts purchased devices with relief money. These days, around 285,000 students in the state have a school-issued device, says John Chadwick, digital equity coordinator for the New Mexico Department of Education.