We have many students who are in rural areas, underserved by cell and broadband service. And this has been an issue our school library staffers are talking about, as everyone is working to provide service to students online. So we are giving you an excerpt of this article about the work of some schools in Massachusetts.
Check out the excerpt here, and you can read the whole article here.
“Even though school is closed, on a given day there are about a dozen cars lined up in the parking lot of Sanderson Academy in Ashfield with people using the school’s Wi-Fi.
Natalie Szewczyk is one of them. The 18-year-old has turned her Toyota Corolla into a mobile work station.
“I stay in my driver’s seat. I push my seat all the way back,” she explained. “And then I prop my Chromebook on the steering wheel with my work on the passenger seat.”
Her sister, who is in 10th grade, usually takes the back seat.
Like many residents from this western Massachusetts community, Szewczyk’s only way to get internet at home is through cell service, and that’s spotty at best. So in order to do school work she has to drive to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Most weekdays, she spends about three hours at this school parking lot.
…”In the car next to Szewczyk most days is Tracey Pinkham, a social studies teacher at Hampshire Regional High School.
“It’s such a different way to teach and it’s a new normal which is hard to adjust to,” Pinkham said. “But I would say my kids’ school and my own school, they’ve been very understanding.”
Two of the five towns served by the Hampshire Regional High School don’t have residential broadband access. Many of those students don’t have access to a car either.\…”
Before schools closed, many people in communities that don’t have residential broadband services got work done in local libraries or coffee shops. But now that’s not an option. And many school and community leaders worry that the lack of reliable internet access could also lead to learning inequities.
“It’s another addition to the long list of inequities that have been laid bare through COVID,” said Adam Hinds a state senator from western Massachusetts.
The state has been making progress in closing this connectivity gap since 2008. The Massachusetts Broadband Institute, a public private partnership, has been overseeing projects across the region. Almost every community they have worked with has broadband access in places like schools and libraries. But 36 towns still aren’t fully covered yet with residential access.”
You can get the rest of the article here.