Bunker Hill Superintendent Todd Dugan participated in the National Digital Equity Summit Sept. 28 in Washington, D.C.
Todd Dugan
BUNKER HILL — Recently the U.S. Department of Education launched a resource providing recommendations for equitable broadband adoption to support leaders crafting digital equity plans, an aspiration that became an emergency for many rural schools and families during the pandemic.
“Digital equity has never felt more urgent. But our opportunity to deliver digital equity has never felt more within reach. The pandemic turned equitable access to technology from an aspiration into an emergency,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Students without broadband access or only a cell phone have lower rates of homework completion, lower grade point averages…even lower college completion rates.”
Last spring, Bunker Hill Superintendent Todd Dugan participated in providing feedback from the field, representing rural Illinois for the Digital Equity Education Roundtable Initiative. The district was invited to the unveiling of the document meant to ensure all students, regardless of geographic location, may fully participate in the digital economy and society of today and tomorrow.
The National Digital Equity Summit, held Sept. 28 at the U.S. Department of Education, convened nearly 200 equity-minded organizations, state and local systems leaders, federal agencies, and educational technology experts to discuss how broadband investments from the Infrastructure Law can be leveraged to better serve students furthest from digital opportunities (including rural) and close the digital divide.
For more information or to view the guidance document, please visit: https://tech.ed.gov/files/2022/09/DEER-Resource-Guide_FINAL.pdf
