More on High-Speed Access (Or Lack of it) in U.S. Schools

In October of 2017, I wrote about the Education Superhighway’s “2017 State of the States” report in which it was reported that an estimated 6.5 million students, most of whom are in the nation’s 1,587 rural K-12 schools, are currently without access to high-speed Internet. The problem is that the schools that don’t have the infrastructure necessary to provide this high-speed access. The federal E-rate, program was created to help school districts attain better access to the Internet.

According to the Education Superhighway, this federal help isn’t getting to these districts in a timely manner due to excessive scrutiny, inconsistency in the application of rules, and a lack of clarity on process changes. They blame the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees E-rate program administrator Universal Service Administration Company (USAC).

The problems are so extensive that they have created a new website to list and keep track of the districts that are being affected by these delays and denials. On that site, they contend the FCC could accelerate approval of these broadband projects by directing the USAC “to eliminate the red tape in the E-rate application process.”

According to the site, 38 fiber optics projects in 17 states have been awaiting decisions since last year. In addition, the group says 61 projects in 28 states have been “unfairly denied.”

It is hard for me to understand why more people do not consider this a high priority. Visit the website, delaysanddenials.org, for more details and suggestions about what you can do to speed up this process.

Healthy Facilities

Included in this issue is a special section containing the winners of our second annual Healthy Facilities Awards. This awards program was created in partnership with the Healthy Facilities Institute (HFI). It is designed to acknowledge the thousands of caring individuals who work in the nation’s public and private schools and colleges, creating and maintaining healthy environments for the students and staff. You will find details about the award recipients starting on page 29. We also plan to present some highlights from the winning entries during a webinar on May 2 entitled Cleaning Essentials: Tools Needed to Make a Healthy Change. You can register for that on our website, webSPM.com.

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management April 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine has been recognized with an EDS 2025 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • Singlewire Software Report Reveals Gaps in K–12 School Entrance Security

    Single Software recently released its first-ever School Entrance Security Report based on more than 500 responses from U.S. school staff members. According to a news release, the findings highlight a gap between K–12 leaders’ wishes for school safety and how safe the schools actually are, as well as the challenges facing students and staff in that goal.

  • Fellowes Launches New 3D Modular, Product Configurators

    Contract interiors and architectural solutions provider Fellowes recently announced the launch of new 3D modular and product configurators for several of its product lines, according to a news release. The new products offer SIF file integration and pricing for the Volo, Markerboards, Sena, and Rising product lines in connection with 3D Cloud, which provides 3D product visualization and 3D digital asset management.

  • Inglewood Unified School District Breaks Ground on New High School

    The Inglewood Unified School District in Inglewood, Calif., recently broke ground on a new campus for Inglewood High School, according to a news release. The project has a budget of about $240 million, funding coming through bond proceeds from Measure I.

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