Earlier this semester, the school administration informed students that LTE enabled Chromebooks were available for all who did not have access to personal internet-enabled devices.
THHS received about 450 devices, as a part of former New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ movement to provide accessible technology to 350,000 students across the city. These LTE-enabled Chromebooks provide internet access regardless of the presence of Wi-Fi via special SIM card technology, helping students without a regular access to stable internet connection.
Through emails and morning announcements, students were encouraged to sign up for devices if they needed one. The first email sent on February 27 instructed students to fill out a Google Form before picking up a Chromebook from the main office. A second email on March 12 said that students could report to the main office to sign out a device.
“Our goal is to ensure every student has an updated, internet-connected device to support learning both in and out of the classroom,” Principal Brian Condon said in both emails.
In an interview with The Classic, Mr. Condon said, “I would say several hundred [computers have been distributed]. You saw the announcements we made and you saw the emails we sent out by Mr. Dunbar, and I think [just by] doing that we handed out about [many] of them.”
Freshman Nayyirah Dewan, a user of a school LTE chromebook, said that obtaining her device “was easy in terms of access and navigation.”
According to the first email, one of the drivers behind this effort was NYCs snow day on February 23. In the email former Assistant Principal Ellen Fee said, “Because of the weather forecast, there is a possibility that school may pivot to remote learning on Monday, February 23… If you need to borrow a school device (Chromebook/iPad) in order to participate in remote learning, we will have devices available for pick-up.” Following this event, the administration reached out hoping to distribute devices to students that do not have access to devices in the event of a remote day.
Sophomore Vivienne Chen said, “I didn’t get the device until after the snow day, but I believe if I did have it’d be helpful and make things more available for school work or assignments for those without devices or phones.”
She said her LTE chromebook has made it easier for her to work, and that the “small Chromebook [just] feels…cozy and comforting.”
Though many students at Townsend Harris already had access to their own personal devices, junior Gabriella Karpiuk said that the addition of LTE chromebooks “is incredibly revolutionary [within] THHS’ student support system.”
“It eliminates the stress of connection issues. … The curriculum itself is enough stress on one student, [they don’t] need additional IT issues on top of all of it,” she said.
Computer Coordinator and Physics teacher John Tsai, who is in charge of administering Long Term Evolution (LTE) Chromebook carts to teachers and students across the building, said, “If [students] want to return Chromebooks, they can return them anytime…usually in June. Seniors have to return them. But freshmen, sophomores, and juniors can hold [on] to them.”
Students who need a device but have not requested one yet can still request one from Mr. Tsai or Ms. Rice on the third floor at THHS.
