HARTFORD, Conn. (NCC News) — Students in the Hartford Public Schools system will no longer have to worry about having WiFi to study at home. The entire city of Hartford will have free WiFi for all residents, with the first stage to be completed before the calendar year’s end.
Although all residents of the city will have access to the WiFi – young or old – it has a direct benefit for the roughly 20,000 students grades K-12 in Hartford. According to John Fergus, the Director of Communications and Marketing of Hartford Public Schools, 12% of students in the school system currently have no internet access at home. Although the schools plan on opening with in-person learning in the fall, the threat to move back online due to another COVID outbreak is imminent. Having this free citywide WiFi would be greatly beneficial to the students.
Fergus also said that a recent survey points to many parents potentially not letting their kids come back to school with the current in-person plan.
“44% were saying they’re coming back day one, with the majority saying they’re going to either commit to online for the quarter or at least to start (online) and kind of get a sense of how things are going before they send their kids back in person.”
This obviously puts many teachers and students at odds, and the solution of free WiFi could solve many of those problems.
Chris Senecal, the Senior Public Policy and Media Relations Officer of the Hartford Foundation of Public Giving, explained why COVID was a big factor in pushing the plan for the free WiFi.
Senecal said, “We’re almost entirely dependent on connectivity and the Internet to access anything from getting benefits from the government or looking for jobs.”
He also said how this is especially true for students and schools as nowadays classrooms are centered around online learning in some capacity or another.
Fergus confirmed that the Frog Hollow section of Hartford will be the first phase to be completed by the end of 2020, followed by the northeast section of the city.
The school year starts in less than a month, so the free WiFi won’t be there for the exact start. However, it is sure to have an impact on education in Hartford once it is up and running.
