March 28, 2024

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education gives you strength

Charter Communications donates $20,000 to Red Bird Mission School

CLAY COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) – As virtual learning continues, the need for laptops is at an all time high.

Friday, Senate President Robert Stivers visited Red Bird Mission School along with representatives from Charter Communications.

Officials with the school gave Stivers an inside look at the virtual classroom.

“Other than some technological glitches they said it was going well. They felt the quantity and the quality was not diminished,” said Stivers.

Before the school year, Senator Stivers met with Red Bird officials about the needs for the school year. After hearing the needs, he reached out to Charter Communications to see if they could help.

“Just talking through it and understand how the schools needs were unfolding created an opportunity for a broader view of how to assist instead of just laptops,” said Marva Johnson, the group vice president for state government affairs for Charter Communications.

Friday, Charter Communications donated $20,000 to help buy Chromebooks for every student.

“Not only does it help us to get everyone to one to one on a device but it also helps our infrastructure so that we can run better,” said school Principal, Jennifer Wilder.

The school did receive CARES Act funding, which helped them buy monitors and some laptops, but not as much as they needed.

Wilder also said building infrastructure including plug-ins for the network and faster access points are crucial for online learning.

“Those were things that were cost prohibitive with the CARES Act money, so when President Stivers came on board with us and said, ‘hey Charter is interesting in helping what are the things that you need?’ that was at the top of our list,” said Wilder.

Wilder said these digital tools are key for students to succeed during the virtual learning process.

“Our vision for Red Bird is to provide our students with opportunities. Opportunities to innovate, to create, to serve, to learn,” said Wilder.

Senator Stivers said this money will help Red Bird to deliver better education.

“It’s good to see that individuals schools be it the teacher or the student and in a large capacity the parent have adapted to these unique situations we’re currently in,” said Stivers.

Charter Communications also donated nearly 170 home safety kits to students and PPE kits for when students return to in-person learning.

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