Distance learning can't happen if you don't have a reliable internet connection

This article focuses on statistics in Connecticut, but I imagine the story is playing out similarly across America. Connecticut’s State Dept of Education released a report showing that 29,000 students didn’t have access to reliable WiFi to finish out the school year as districts switched to distance-learning in light of COVID-19 concerns.

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In Virginia there was a big push for public schools to roll public access WiFi in the parking lots because of Covid-19. I did it for a high school for a long time client where I’d done the district’s managed WiFi. I suspected it wasn’t going to get much use, and as I randomly checked it over the next few weeks never saw one client attached. This was a poor town where many didn’t have broadband at home.

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@dpeterson - oh dang, that’s surprising! I would have thought that folks with no internet at home would be breaking down the gates to use parking lot WiFi. Maybe that’s just me though… one summer when I worked in a rural town and didn’t have WiFi at my cabin, I would park outside the gas station after work to check my email, heh.