(Eureka)—The Humboldt County Office of Education is distributing over 650 new Chromebooks to elementary school students this week. The computers are intended to help distance-learing students in Humboldt County achieve educational success in “COVID times”. The Chromebooks are part of the California Department of Education’s (CDE) Closing The Digital Divide initiative to support students in rural, underserved communities. This week, 525 computers were delivered to Eureka City Schools. 125 were distributed to Fortuna Elementary school and 15 to Agnes J. Johnson School in Weott. In addition, over 400 new computers were slated to be distributed to Ferndale Unified School District, Freshwater Elementary School, Redwood Coast Montessori, Southern Humboldt and Cutten School Districts.

Rio Dell School District Superintendent, Angela Johnson said, “We are very excited at Rio Dell for the generous donation of Chromebooks. With the addition of these Chromebooks we are now able to have a device for every student in 1st through 8th grade! We live in a supportive community and we are grateful to Humboldt County Office of Education and PG&E for securing these devices to meet our students’ technology needs.” Due to the geographical nature of Humboldt County, technology equity is often challenging to meet students’ distance-learning needs. “These computers will help bridge some of the access issues related to devices and internet connectivity for students in Humboldt County,” said Humboldt County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Chris Hartley. “They will also serve as a catalyst for improving student outcomes and address the digital divide that exists for many of our students and families in the 31 districts we serve.”