When COVID-19 shut schools down across the state in the spring, Jeff Broadt quickly noticed many families didn’t have the technology needed to make virtual learning productive.

Broadt, who runs Dean Anthony’s Banquet Hall in Jim Thorpe, sought to fill that gap as the 2020-21 school year kicked off and recently donated 150 Android tablets to the Lehighton Area Elementary Center, where his son Matthew is a second-grade student.

“We closed down for two months at the start of COVID-19 and a lot of our waitresses, who we consider like family, were really struggling,” Broadt said. “Many of them are single mothers who are really working hard to make ends meet. As school started this year, we continued to see a lot of people posting that they don’t have the money to buy technology to support learning from home, and we thought this donation would be something that could really help out.”

Not only do students who attend Lehighton’s classes virtually use tablets and laptops, but the technology is also heavily relied upon in the face-to-face setting.

The district does have iPads and laptops, but not enough for each student to use in school. Administrators said that’s a real issue this year with the limitations on sharing equipment.

“The new tablets will allow us to get very close to one for everyone,” Aaron Sebelin, principal at the elementary center, said. “Our teachers are using technology in their classrooms on a daily basis. One of the initiatives this year is to teach our children how to access their teacher’s online learning platform. This is very important in the event that the student population is unable to come into school again, similar to the events that happened in the spring.”

The tablets were delivered to the school last week and are being placed into service by the district’s information technology department. Broadt said he wanted the tablets to go directly to the elementary center because those students are usually getting hand-me-down devices from the older grades.

“We thought it would be more beneficial to the younger students,” Broadt said. “We worked with my son’s first-grade teacher, Nicole Hydro, to facilitate this and hope that more students are able to get their hands on this technology.”

Lehighton elementary students have the option to attend school in person five days per week, but parents can also choose a virtual option, where the district uses a Swivl robotic platform to record the lesson.

In the event school is shut down in a quick fashion as it was in the spring, Sebelin said, the additional technology would help students to a more seamless transition.

“As we teach the children to work in Canvas and Seesaw (both Lehighton educational programs) the idea is that if the kids are at home they will feel comfortable gaining access to online teaching,” Sebelin said. “They may even show their parents how to log on to work in a virtual classroom. We are working hard to be better prepared in the event we are not in school again for any period of time.”