The district’s geographic structure creates unique opportunities for comprehensive exposure. “We ship kids back and forth so that kids at North Decatur can take the biomed pathway at South or vice versa,” Hocker says. Meanwhile, manufacturing education has found its place through North High’s manufacturing academy, launched two years ago to connect with the region’s industrial base. Given that manufacturing employs 4,134 people in Greensburg alone, the largest employment sector in the area, these partnerships align directly with local economic realities and career opportunities. TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION AND RURAL CONNECTIVITY CHALLENGES Digital equity remains one of the most persistent challenges facing rural education, where geographic isolation can create technological divides similar socioeconomic disparities. While urban districts grapple with device management and platform selection, rural schools confront the more fundamental issue of basic internet access. Decatur County Community Schools has embraced comprehensive technology integration while simultaneously addressing the connectivity gaps that could leave students behind. 249 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 08 DECATUR COUNTY COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
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