As part of its plans to bring internet outreach to every child in the Fort Worth, Texas area, the plan was to invest in a series of new towers to boost broadband. However, as GovTech reports, WiFi is now seen by the school district as the best way to bring a lot of students online quickly and for less money.
Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Scribner told the Star-Telegram they planned to build small cell structures throughout the district as the delivery system for broadband access. Officials anticipated the towers could be built in six months. Since then, the district has hired a new chief information officer in January who, according to a district spokesman, has put the project on a “new timeline.”
In an outreach effort aimed at children, the city of Fort Worth has identified six zip codes most in need of an assist. The city intends to invest $5 million in CARES Act funding to bring free public WiFi to neighborhoods in Stop Six, Ash Crescent, North Side, Como and Rosemont. The city has indicated that it will install receivers on host sites like traffic lights and public buildings to relay signals throughout the region. The system will include filters mirroring what the school provides that will bar students from accessing illegal or inappropriate content.
Officials in Fort Worth have commented that the expanded WiFi service is a small step towards addressing a statewide deficiency. “We need to throw all the tools at it [connectivity] that we possibly can,” Gaby Rowe of Operation Connectivity told GovTech. “And that all isn’t going to take place during the school day, in the four walls of the classroom.”
Texas has a large number of school age children who do not have adequate internet access at home. Surveys indicate that approximately a third of the state’s youthful population suffers from a “homework gap” that finds them without a digital connection outside school grounds. While libraries and supportive businesses provide some relief, this past year has highlighted how inadequate the thin resources are in many communities, according to the account.
Jennifer Harris, state program director for the statewide broadband initiative Connected Nation Texas noted, “This is the most exciting time for broadband in Texas and in our country that we’ve ever seen.”
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