diff --git a/app/hello_django/settings.py b/app/hello_django/settings.py
index 51edd7b6..5f72f498 100644
--- a/app/hello_django/settings.py
+++ b/app/hello_django/settings.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
 SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get("SECRET_KEY")
 
-DEBUG = bool(os.environ.get("DEBUG", default=0))
+DEBUG = bool(int(os.environ.get("DEBUG", default=0)))
 
 # 'DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS' should be a single string of hosts with a space between each.
 # For example: 'DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost 127.0.0.1 [::1]'