One Iowa School District’s Simple Solution to the Homework Gap? Local Businesses

When Winterset (IA) Community Schools launched its one-to-one device program, staff celebrated the milestone. But then parents and students began to complain that they didn’t have sufficient Wi-Fi at home to access the online assignments students were expected to complete after school hours. They had Chromebooks, but no connection.“And we said, ‘That’s not acceptable here. We’ve got to figure out a way to fix that,’” said Susie Meade, the superintendent of Winterset Community Schools. As she began thinking about ways to help Winterset students get home internet access, Meade recalled hearing about a district that had tapped local businesses to allow students to come in after school hours and use their Wi-Fi for free. “And I thought, ‘Well, we could do that,’” she says. More than a dozen businesses—coffee shops, restaurants, bakeries, bookstores, libraries and grocery stores, to name a few—opened their doors to students. Next, she found a graphic design agency that created and printed window decals for the businesses to display for students. The decal features Winterset’s logo and school colors—black and yellow—and says “Wi-Fi” in big, bold letters. Since the Oct 2017 launch, Meade has had no parents complain or share with her that their kids don't have access at home.