In keeping with its vision of securing resources that help teachers empower students through educational excellence, the Hattiesburg Public School District Foundation has donated 113 Google Chromebooks – almost $25,000 worth – to students to help with distance learning opportunities.
The laptops were presented April 22 at Hattiesburg High School, where they are being prepared for disbursement.
Students who will be receiving one of the Chromebooks will be contacted for a pickup time.
“This was honoring a request to purchase Chromebooks on behalf of students who could not afford them to be placed at the high school,” said Jerome Brown, president of the foundation’s board of directors. “We know the buildings are closed (because of the COVID-19 pandemic), but there is still learning going on. So having the Chromebooks will enable students to continue that distance learning.”
The Hattiesburg Public School District Foundation was founded after Hurricane Katrina when food distribution company Sysco presented a grant to support many of the schools in the area.
The foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, works to fund enrichment grants to HPSD faculty and staff, support early childhood and school readiness efforts, seek and maintain student scholarship funds, support district arts and athletic programs, and meet emerging needs in the district.
In 2018, the foundation inducted its inaugural class of the Hattiesburg Hall of Fame, which included notable alumni including Rob Tatum, Purvis Short, Craig Wiseman, Johnny DuPree, Rick Cleveland, Jesse Brown and Evelyn Gandy.
Because the organization is able to use donated funds to purchase certain equipment that the school district may not be able to, district officials requested the foundation help out with the Chromebook purchase.
“We get a lot of our funding from (fundraising) sources, to be able to handle a lot of those requests, where the district can’t spend educational money, but we can on the foundation side,” Brown said. “So this was just one of those requests out of many, where they ask us to do certain things, and it has its own separate board of directors as well, which is not connected to the school board whatsoever. We’re an external group altogether.”
Although the Chromebook donation will not bring the school up to a 1:1 ratio – meaning every student at the school is issued a laptop – it will make a big difference toward improving technological opportunities for students.
“I would assume the high school has at least a thousand students, and with that being said, we’re only touching 10 percent of the students with our 113,” Brown said. “But I do know – and this is me being a parent – that they did send a survey to find out what your home needs were, relating to Wi-Fi and also a device.
“So I guess at some point with that survey coming back, they were able to say where the immediate need is. But I think they’re going to make a long-term purchase to get some more.”
Foundation members were invited to a Zoom meeting with school district superintendent Robert Williams and his advisory group, during which the foundation was thanked for its efforts.
“We heard a lot of ‘thank yous’ from them,” Brown said. “And we’re just doing what’s requested, and there have been other requests that didn’t make the headlines because maybe of the timing and what’s going on now.
“This is something that we do pretty much all the time that kind of goes under the radar that parents may not know about. But this time, (Williams) did a good job of thanking us for doing it.”
Donations to the foundation can be made via mail to HPSD Foundation, 10501 Adeline St., Hattiesburg, MS 39401.
