Twenty laptops from Belfast schools are headed to students in Bucha, Ukraine, following approval from the Regional School Unit 73 Board of Directors at a meeting on Tuesday.
Middle school teacher Martha Conway-Cole, who has a personal relationship with one of the teachers from Bucha, requested the donation.
“[Teachers are] continuing to teach kids, work hard and deliver instruction in the last couple of circumstances,” Conway-Cole told the board. “But sometimes it means that kids are commuting to school on the telephones because their laptops have been bombed or were looted earlier in the year.”
The connection between Belfast and Bucha began before the conflict in Ukraine. In the winter of 2021, Conway-Cole, a language arts teacher, and English teacher Anna Maymeskul of Bucha met virtually to connect their classrooms, but they became fast friends.
When the war broke out shortly after, Conway-Cole helped Maymeskul and her family evacuate Ukraine to live in England.
Bucha is 20 miles northwest of the capital, Kyiv, and was home to the infamous war atrocities and massacre in March shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
In England, Maymeskul continues teaching her Bucha students remotely.
Younger children are still attending the school of 1,500 students in person while most of the older students are attending school virtually, Conway-Cole said.
Director Jean Dube wondered if it “may not be the best time of sending stuff out because they are bombing heavily.”
Conway-Cole emphasized the need is immediate for both students and teachers — whether they’ve remained in Bucha or left Ukraine already.
“They just said any on their own would be really helpful,” Conway-Cole said.
The initial plan is to send 20 laptops. But the district recently purchased new laptops for the high school with federal Elementary and Secondary School Relief funds, provided through the CARES Act. That left 400 to 500 old laptops unused. If the first send is successful, the board will consider sending more.