Helping Queens Students Access Computers and the Internet

Students stand in front of the Hunter's Point Campus which houses the Academy for Careers in Television and Film on Oct. 21 after school. Students here know that teachers and administrators can give them extra assistance if they need to access computers for homework. Photo by Kailyn Lamb
Students stand in front of the Hunter’s Point Campus, which houses the Academy for Careers in Television and Film. Students here say that teachers and administrators can give them extra assistance if they need to access computers for homework. (The Ink/Kailyn Lamb

Alexis Garcia, 17, is a high school student at the Civic Leadership Academy, in Corona, Queens. Once every few days, his teachers give him assignments that require using the Internet. That can be a problem because his home Internet connection is so unreliable that at least twice a week, he has to restart the modem to get online.

“It is as good as saying that I don’t have [an] Internet connection at all,” said Garcia, who lives in Corona. He often completes his assignments at the Queens Library branch on 104th Street in Corona or at an Internet cafe close to his house.

Edison Salazar, 18, a friend of Garcia’s who attends the same high school, also laments the unreliable Internet connection at his Woodside home. “It is just something that we have to live with, and you get used to it,” Salazar said with a shrug. Though both Garcia and Salazar share the same Internet woes, they said they will always find other ways to get their assignments completed before the deadlines.

Few doubt the increasing importance of computing and Internet access in schools. In September, Mayor Bill de Blasio even took it a step further by announcing a plan that would require all of the city’s schools to offer computer science classes within the next 10 years. But there’s a big gap between the future vision of technology savvy students and current reality. A recent study by the city’s comptroller, Scott Stringer, calls the Internet the “fourth utility of the modern age – as central to our daily lives as electricity, gas and water.” But the study also found that 21 percent of New York City’s school aged children lack broadband access at home. And even those who do have access often say the service is spotty.

Within Queens alone, a little more than one in six people do not have computers at home, according to the study by Stringer’s office. The study also found that another 62,143 people in Queens have computers at home, but do not have Internet access.

Students without access at home learn to be resourceful. Early one recent October evening, Lisset Astudillo, 15, sat hunched over a computer in the Cyber88 Internet Cafe along Roosevelt Avenue, typing her global history essay. A student at Queens Vocational and Technical High School in Long Island City, Astudillo has had no Internet connection for the last three months because, she said, her father could not afford it. This was her the first time using an Internet cafe to do research and type out her essay. She thinks it won’t be the last.

“It will be a big problem, and the use of computers at the libraries has a time limit of two 30-minute slots a day,” she said. But the cafe is costly. She spends $3 an hour for a computer and Internet access, a typical price in the area.

Speaking in Spanish, Aleyda Giraldo, an employee at the LP International Multiservice Corp., an Internet cafe on the edge of Elmhurst, said that about 10 students ranging from elementary school to college come to her Internet cafe to do their school assignments each day during the work week. She also said that she seldom sees students coming to the cafe on the weekends to complete their assignments.

Many students like Garcia also turn to the libraries. But resources are more limited. According to David Roycroft, assistant manager at the Queens Public Library at Broadway in Long Island City, the seven computers in the library’s teen section are only available to students after 2 p.m. to do their homework. Joanne King, the communications director for Queens libraries, said that all libraries have access to free Wi-Fi, as well as computers in the teen and youth sections. She also said that all libraries have Google tablets and some have laptops that can be used within the library as well. According to King, there are 1,963 computers and laptops throughout the Queens libraries, as well as 5,000 tablets that can be checked out with a library card. 

The Queens Library in Astoria is just one of the many branches that students can go to in order to use Internet access for homework assignments. Photo by Kailyn Lamb
The Queens library in Astoria is just one of the many branches that students can go to in order to use Internet access for homework assignments. (The Ink/Kailyn Lamb)

Nick Buron, vice president of the Queens library system, says these tools are critical to helping the library fulfill its traditional role of helping people access information. “We know that there are lots of people that don’t have computers at home,” Buron said.“We know that people don’t have Wi-Fi, that Wi-Fi can be expensive, and yet society assumes that everyone has a computer, everyone has this ability. We’re telling people that it’s needed without really providing the resources for all.”

Finding those resources on weekends is even more difficult. Only one-third of the 62 public library locations in Queens offer hours on Saturdays, and only two of them have hours on Sundays. When the libraries are open, competition for computers can be fierce. Some students, like Astudillo, also say that the twice a day 30-minute time limitation on computers prevents them from completing their work.

Library officials say they are trying to remove some of those barriers. Buron said that starting Nov. 21, all library branches will be open Monday through Saturday. He said this is in part to help give students more access to the library’s resources. He also said that 20 library branches are participating in a pilot program to lend out mobile Wi-Fi hotspots for several months. King added that five more libraries will be participating in this program starting in November. There are 2,000 hotspots available for check-out with a library card. 

Another option during school hours is for students to use the computer and Internet facilities at their high schools. Students interviewed who attend high schools in Corona and Long Island City generally said that their schools are equipped with good computer and Internet access. In an email interview, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Education said that over 99 percent of schools across New York City now have new, faster Internet cables, up from 80 percent in June 2013.

Students at some Queens high schools say teachers and administrators reach out to students with inadequate home access. Jacob Arroyo, 15, a student at the Academy for Careers in Television & Film in Long Island City, said teachers will always encourage students to come forward and tell them if they can’t get online at home. “Teachers are conscious that there may be students who don’t have Internet at home,” he said. “So there isn’t a lot of take-home Internet based assignments.”

Stephanie Richardson, a special education teacher at the Academy for Careers in Television & Film, said in an email interview that her school is very technologically friendly, and each student is provided with a school email address. Richardson said that when a student recently told her he had no computer and Internet access at home, she let him use the school computer during his free time at lunch, advisory sessions, or before or after school.

Some non-profits are also working to help students without access. Kathrine Mott, executive director of Citizen Schools, says her group works mostly with middle schools, which Mott calls the “forgotten time” of education. Some schools do have laptops and computer labs, Mott said, but many others don’t.  These are critical skills, not just for people who want to go into computer science or engineering, but they’re critical skills for all careers,” Mott said. “So providing students with early exposure in middle school helps them to keep pace with their peers at other schools.”

The New York City Housing Authority Community Center’s Digital Vans program aims to get Internet access to its public housing residents. The Digital Vans program in Queens is currently only running in Astoria. It can be found in a maintenance lot at 4-20 Astoria Blvd. twice a month until December. The driver of the Astoria Digital Van, Kim Maxwell, said that the Astoria location is very popular with young students. He said the bus is busiest after 3 p.m. when school gets out. Maxwell said that the program is looking into adding another bus into the rotation  so that busier locations such as Astoria can become weekly instead of bi-weekly. 

Reporting by Kailyn Lamb and Christine Low.

Kim Maxwell, the driver of the bus that makes bi-weekly stops at the NYCHA Astoria Community Center said that the Digital Van program is very popular with students in this location. He says he is busiest after 3 p.m. when school is out. Photo by Kailyn Lamb
Kim Maxwell, the driver of the bus that makes bi-weekly stops at the New York City Housing Authority Astoria Community Center, said that the Digital Van program is very popular with students in this location. He says he is busiest after 3 p.m. when school is out. (The Ink/Kailyn Lamb)