MD Students Seek Laptops For Online Learning During Coronavirus

ANNAPOLIS, MD — While Maryland students are engaged in online learning, one educational institution is seeking the community's help to support its kids who do not have the technological tools available to them to succeed.

Monarch Academy has facilities in Annapolis, Glen Burnie, Laurel and Baltimore. Monarch Preschool has a location in College Park. The Children's Guild has facilities in Chillum, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

But not all of these students have computers in their homes or access to the internet. So Monarch Academy and The Children's Guild has launched an initiative to raise funds to support the urgent and immediate purchase of 1,500 Chromebook laptops.

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According to Kids First America, at The Children’s Guild DC Public Charter School, for example, most of the students live below the poverty line and 22 percent are homeless. In Monarch Academy schools in Anne Arundel County, many students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and many parents have been laid off due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

“If these student do not connect to online learning options during this time of distance learning, they will regress and lose the progress they have made since the beginning of the school year,” said Andrew L. Ross, president and CEO of The Children’s Guild Alliance, and operator of The Children’s Guild and Monarch Academy schools. “Gifts of any size are appreciated but know $50 buys a WiFi hotspot for a family without internet connectivity and $250 puts a Chromebook in the hands of a student.”

For more information or to donate, visit KidsFirstAmerica.org/chromebooks.

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