Kaylani Gomez, 4, works on her Waterford UPSTART computer, Friday, Dec. 27, 2019. The program is at no cost to parents and provides preparation and training for kids about to enter Kindergarten.
Friday, July 24, 2020 | 2 a.m.
As school starts online in about a month, education officials are still wondering how to pay for connectivity for thousands of Clark County School District households that lack home internet access.
More than 128,000 households in the district are without online service. Funding is now earmarked for roughly 100,000 of those families, and the Nevada Department of Education is working with CCSD to identify money to purchase wireless hot spots for the 28,000 remaining households.
The issue was addressed Thursday at a state Board of Education meeting as time is beginning to run out to ensure that every remote learner has the tools and technology to open the year.
Teachers — who start Aug. 5 with a series of professional development days before students resume classes Aug. 24 — have the option to work from home or at school when possible. With about 320,000 students, Clark County is one of the largest school districts in the country.
Two factors seem to be driving the district's connectivity problem: Either families cannot afford web access or some areas lack broadband infrastructure.
Brian Mitchell, director of the Governor’s Office of Science, Innovation and Technology, argues it's primarily the former. He said the vast majority of students in the state, including those who live in rural areas, have a cell signal that can connect to a hot spot for internet access.
But even with Wi-Fi, low-income families tend to be more smartphone-dependent, thus they lack access to other internet-enabled devices such as laptops or PCs to get online, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.
The district is working to distribute Chromebooks for students in need, although it is running into supply-chain challenges in purchasing the devices as promptly as it would like.
The district has partnered with internet service providers Cox Communications and CenturyLink to offer discounted rates for broadband access for qualifying low-income families.
To improve infrastructure, Cox has spent millions of dollars on its fiber-optic cable network throughout Southern Nevada, Communications Manager Susie Black-Manriquez said, conceding there are likely some areas still without Cox service in the CCSD footprint.
The district is repurposing support staff to prepare paper packets for those without internet access or who don’t learn as well online, which state Board of Education member Felicia Ortiz called "the backup plan."
Fellow board member Mark Newburn asked for school districts, particularly Clark County, to provide updates at state board meetings because he wasn't clear on how connectivity would be achieved.
“I don’t think I can tell you for the life of me what the CCSD plan is,” Newburn said.
