IPS, MyINDY-TV 23 partner to provide school lessons on TV during pandemic
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Public Schools is partnering with Circle City Broadcasting-owned MyINDY-TV 23 to broadcast classroom lessons on television.
The lessons on WNDY, Channel 23, will be for students kindergarten through Grade 8.
A lot of students are already doing virtual classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic, but quite a few children have limited to no internet access at home.
Schools across the state are eerily quiet during the pandemic. Signs that typically show upcoming events have been replaced with signs of encouragement and, although schools are shut down, learning hasn’t.
“This crisis is putting the spotlight really on this in equity that exist where you have a number of homes where they don’t have Internet access,” said IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson.
For from 30%-40% of IPS students, internet is a luxury they don’t have, or it isn’t high-speed, or there aren’t enough devices for every child in the home to use.
“As a household leader who needs to make decisions about the bills, I can’t afford to pay or not oftentimes Internet access is one of those things falls off the list of must-have items,” Johnson said.
The broadcasts will begin April 27. Students in kindergarten through Grade 8 who tune in will get lessons in English, math and reading from 8-10 a.m. weekdays.
Circle City Broadcasting owner DuJuan McCoy said, “We’re very proud to bring these critical broadcasts to students in our community. Free broadcast television can help to fill the gap for those without access by providing a link to educational opportunities for all students, regardless of income.”
The superintendent said, “Having this avenue now where students can access instruction from an educator and watch it on TV without needing cable to do so it’s just a huge resource.”
Students are already getting paper packets in the mail. The televised instruction will align with it.
IPS is still working on the schedule to determine what lesson will be taught at what time. In the meantime, the IPS Foundation recently created a education equity fund to help fill the gabs in education.