Camden County Schools closed March 17, but it wasn’t until April 1 that substitute teacher Bern Johnson’s third-grade granddaughter got her hands on a laptop to do her schoolwork.
[…]Gov. Brian Kemp announced last week that Georgia’s public schools will be closed through the school year, but Georgia students have been studying from home for weeks as schools shut their doors in mid-March to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
That’s been a challenge, especially for families like Johnson’s without enough devices to go around, as well as those without reliable internet access, said Georgia Budget and Policy Institute senior policy analyst Stephen Owens.
About 1.6 million Georgians do not have access to high-speed internet, and in Georgia school systems with fewer than 1,000 students, 56% of households do not have high speed internet available.
Even densely populated regions have areas with no high-speed access, Owen said.
