“The Internet and broadband and cloud communications are integral to our society — our businesses, our neighborhoods, our personal lives," said Mitsuko R. Herrera, director of the ultraMontgomery Program in the county’s Department of Technology Services. "So the schools are developing curricula that are heavily Internet-based.”
Citing research that shows some 70 percent of teachers assign homework that requires access to broadband, Herrera said not all students have an equal ability to tackle such assignments.
“Some students have a robust Internet connection and a computer, but other students either have no connection at home, or they may be relying on a sibling’s smartphone, or they may do their homework at McDonald’s,” she said. “The county wants to ensure that all children have access to the Internet in order to further their education.”
The county is chasing that goal with a number of different means, forging partnerships with private industry while also leveraging its own existing fiber backbone.
The county’s FiberNet infrastructure connects all public schools, libraries and government buildings — over 560 sites in all — making it the front line of broadband delivery for students who can’t access the Internet for schoolwork at home.
“When children are in the library, when they are in their schools and using the computers, then they are using FiberNet,” Herrera said. “The libraries have computer labs, they have study space and they have access to a lot of databases.”
The county thinks it can do more with FiberNet, using it as a springboard to get students connected even when they are outside the school.
Continue reading on Government Technology.
