Many Chester County school students in need will get internet -- through December.
Chester County School District will receive a grant to provide about 900 wired connections and 100 wi-fi hotspots to students’ households, Superintendent Antwon Sutton said earlier this week.
The district received this grant from the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff. The funds were provided under the CARES, or Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
However, the funding expires in December.
This program will benefit families in Chester whose children need the internet to attend school or complete homework. The school district will offer a fully virtual online academy as well as a hybrid option for the 2020-2021 school year.
District officials have identified which families do not have internet connections. Those households will be the recipients of the hotspots, or receive a wired connection where there is not a strong wi-fi signal, CCSD Chief Operations Officer Timothy Camp said.
The state will directly pay local provider TruVista to set up the wired connections, Camp said. The internet will be contracted between the state and TruVista. This is a benefit because, when the CARES funding expires, poor families will not be stuck with a bill, Camp said.
The district had already purchased 500 hotspots for their students.
Census data shows that 45.2% of Chester County residents do not have an internet connection. With 78.8% of CCSD students in poverty, Sutton told the Herald in July that affordability was the main factor keeping people offline.
“When you have to maintain your power bill, providing food for your family, internet is kind of low on the list,” he said.
Camp and Sutton both said they were concerned about what will happen come December when funding runs out. Sutton said he remains hopeful that by that time, the district will have a more permanent solution.
