Will Help Low Income Families Remain Online. Contract Renewal Set For Board Meeting Next Week.
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2022 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — The Palm Beach County School District is set to approve a $432,000 contract with T-Mobile for cellular phone service in the school district. The contract covers 2,400 mobile phone lines at $15 each. While some of the lines are used for school district departments across the huge county, most will be used for low income families in need of residential internet access.
“The purchase of the Wireless Services are also used to provide student families with internet access required for Distance Learning which is required throughout the District due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” states a document obtained by BocaNewsNow.com. “This renewal will allow for uninterrupted Internet Essentials program services for all qualified low-income households through the District.”
While high speed internet access is as common as water and electricity in most households in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach, there is a large portion of the 180,000 member student body of the Palm Beach County School District that lacks residential internet service. That became not just evident during the ”distance learning” days of COVID-19, but problematic. The school district — as well as several volunteer organizations — moved long range ”hot spots” and buses outfitted with internet access points into low income communities and neighborhoods so children could take part in remote learning activities.
The T-Mobile deal is a step towards ensuring that all Palm Beach County students have access to the internet at home. The contract continues through July of 2023.
