Free mobile internet access for Lancaster students 'levels playing field'

LANCASTER — Regardless of a family's ability to pay for home internet services, students at Tallmadge and Gorsuch West elementary schools and Lancaster High School will have access thanks to a grant.

Lancaster City Schools received an EmpowerED grant through T-Mobile to receive 1,152 free mobile Wi-Fi hotspot devices that provide free high-speed internet using T-Mobile's network. 

“Our No. 1 goal at Lancaster City Schools is to give access to learning for all students regardless of their family situation and income level,” said Kevin Snyder, Director of Secondary Education in a press release. “This program gets us one step closer to providing adequate resources for all of our students.”

Each student or family at Tallmadge and Gorsuch West elementary school will get a free device with a parent's permission. So far, Gorsuch West Principal Terri Garrett said she's handed out 71 devices benefiting 101 kids after students returned signed permission slips Monday and Tuesday.

There are 536 students at the school and each of them are eligible, even if they are not on free and reduced lunches. Garrett said the schools were a prime candidate for the grant because 72 percent of Gorsuch West's 536 children are on free and reduced lunches, which is a slightly higher percentage than Tallmadge.

Many parents, Garrett said, rely on internet access on their phones, which limits children's access for schoolwork.

"They're not going to hand their phone to their kid to play an educational game or to do something for school because they have to be careful with data," Garrett said. "(The hotspot) allows their children to be connected and you're not using your phone's data."

If there are any leftover devices, Garrett said they will ask the junior high schools if there are any students who could use them.

In addition to the elementary schools, the grant provided $403,000 in technology reimbursements, which allows the district to pay for 2,009 mobile broadband lines at a discounted rate for all LHS students. Each high school student may receive a hotspot device with a parent's consent.

“This partnership will help Lancaster City Schools to help break down barriers for families without home internet access,” Superintendent Steve Wigton said in a press release. “As education has evolved, many classes require students to do research, write papers, and complete other homework assignments online. We know many of our students don’t have internet access and devices when they go home. Providing mifi devices and broadband internet access to our qualifying families levels the playing field for our students and will help our students become competitors in an ever-changing technological world."

Internet access will be suspended in the summer months and reactivated when school begins. There is also a built-in web page content filter.

The EmpowerED grant will provide free internet access to all of the devices until June 2020 unless further funds are obtained.

sremoquill@gannett.com

740-681-4342

Twitter: @SpencerRemo