With word that schools in Arkansas are online-only for the rest of the school year, that leaves a lot of education in the ghostly hands of the Internet. Some students learn best in a classroom, but this is the way of education now: video conferences, digital books and laptops.
For some late risers or teens, but we repeat ourselves, the idea of school moving entirely to the digital realm might be a dream come true. But for folks with spotty Internet service or limited ability to connect at all, it might be a drag. Or at least a lag.
In a rural state, some folks will have iffy connections to the Web. It's why the governor has a plan to expand rural broadband to towns of 500 by 2022.
But since it's only 2020, some parents who live in rural areas without good Internet might be stressed about how their kids will get homework done. Do they sit in the McDonald's parking lot and try to use the Wi-Fi every night from their vehicle? That doesn't sound like a great strategy, but if it's all they have . . . .
Fortunately, some groups are trying to help, one of them being OzarksGo (a subsidiary of Ozarks Electric Cooperative). OzarksGo has been putting lines around so more students can get online.
The company said it already installed connections into school buses in Elkins and a church west of Fayetteville for Farmington students. Huntsville students are next on the list, according to OzarksGo.
Last month, the company set up fiber optic lines in many of the school's "smart buses" so the district wouldn't have to rely so much on cellular data (which gets used up fast and is expensive). Those buses are then parked around the district for students to get online. It's a great solution for remote learning.
Students have been disrupted by this pandemic, and they're going to need all the tools they can get to finish the semester. That's especially true for those outside metro areas.
As far as we're concerned, any company helping them achieve a strong finish is made of right fine folks.
Editorial on 04/10/2020