Manatee students need the internet to access online learning. The solution is costly

Every K-12 student in the Manatee County School District has the option to take online classes, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, but not everyone has access to the internet.

The district loaned approximately 9,000 computers to students in late March, during the statewide closure of schools and the transition to online learning. Manatee also has thousands of new devices on the way. The district’s chief technology officer, Scott Hansen, said he was confident that all students would have access to computers in the 2020-21 school year.

Internet access was a completely different issue, he said. Manatee has about 500 WiFi hot spots that would bring internet to families’ houses, but the anticipated need is much greater.

“Just for argument’s sake, let’s say 10 percent of our student population does not have internet access, which is not a stretch by any imagination,” he said of the area’s traditional schools.

As of Tuesday, he estimated that 4,000 students — at a minimum — lacked internet access at home. The district will have a better idea of how many students are going online and how many will need a device after Thursday, the deadline to choose in-person, online or hybrid classes.

Depending on the need, Hansen may suggest a plan at the first school board meeting in August, but it would come at a cost. For between $1.3 million to $1.4 million, the district could likely order 4,000 hot spots and the service plans for each, Hansen said.

The district already had a shortfall of hot spots during the abrupt switch to online learning in late March, but Spectrum and other providers filled the gap by opening connections throughout the county and offering free home WiFi on a temporary basis. Those deals have since ended.

Further expanding access in Manatee County, the district rolled out 50 WiFi-equipped school buses, creating internet hot spots throughout the community.

However, along with the option to take full-time or part-time classes online, students can also return to their classrooms five days a week. Under the current plan, those buses will serve as transportation rather than hot spots.

“Our first priority is picking up students in the morning and dropping them off in the afternoon,” Hansen said.

Without access to the WiFi-equipped buses or the deals from local service providers, a large technology gap stands between families and the online learning option.

Amber Bozeman, a resident of Bradenton, said her daughter was eager to return to middle school and see her friends.

“As much as I don’t want to, I’m keeping her home,” Bozeman said.

Bozeman feared that her daughter would catch the virus at school and then pass it to vulnerable family members, but her access to the internet, along with online learning, was fleeting.

While the district offers internet access outside of its schools, Bozeman had no transportation. The same obstacle prevented her from making use of the WiFi-equipped school buses in past months.

She had brief internet access through the recent deal from Spectrum, which ended in late June, and she was unsure if she could budget for continued service.

Bozeman said she would do anything to provide her daughter with an online education until COVID-19 posed less of a risk. As of Wednesday, she was unsure how to meet that goal.

“What are we supposed to do?” she said.

This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 3:34 PM.