The Palm Beach County School District works to end digital divide

The Digital Inclusion Initiative is working to provide Wi-Fi to lower income students and their families.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The School District of Palm Beach County, with help from outside organizations, has undertaken a major project to combine education, technology, and construction resources in order to make sure their students have reliable access to the internet.

The shutting down of all schools in Palm Beach County on March 13, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced an immediate shift to online schooling over the next year and a half, something that families in low-income areas without reliable or even basic internet connection were not ready to adjust to.

According to the UnitedWay, over 92,000 households in Palm Beach County were without internet access and 8,010 students were without personal computers or tablets.

The lack of equal access to the internet is referred to as the digital divide. Research done by the Quantum Foundation on the digital divide found that families without internet access will have less education, less earnings and employment, and even shorter life expectancy. The divide increased during the pandemic when the internet for schooling became essential.

Dr. Adam Miller, the Assistant Superintendent of Performance Accountability for the School District of Palm Beach County, said in an effort to combat this when the pandemic began, the district purchased chromebooks and distributed them to the students.

“We got the chromebooks, but then we thought ‘wait a minute, the students have devices, but they might not have internet access,’” said Dr. Miller.

As a result of this, the Palm Beach County government and school district, along with the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County, undertook a project known as the “Digital Inclusion Initiative” to provide Wi-Fi to lower income students and their families.

According to Dr. Miller, the county contributed $16 million they received from the United States CARES Act, COVID-19 related economic relief provided by the federal government, to set up poles and radios for the wi-fi network.

Michael Butler, the Director of Network Services for Palm Beach County, is responsible for making sure these poles were installed.

“It’s basically a very large construction and technical project,” said Butler.

According to Butler and Dr. Miller, setting up the poles required dealing with 12 different municipalities in order to receive the permits to do so.

Butler pointed to Palm Beach County having an already large network of over 1,000 miles of fiber optic cables that would allow for wi-fi to be installed. As part of the project, they installed more than 400 miles of additional fiber optic cables with a plan to add 80 more miles.

The plan, initially to install 2,000 poles, is now to install 7,000–8,000 poles. They currently have around 850 poles in the ground with most of Central Belle Glade and Lantana covered.

James Gavrilos, the president and CEO of the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County, was approached by the district to purchase wi-fi extenders, home devices that would allow families to connect to the wi-fi network set up near their homes.

According to Gavrilos, the foundation purchased 25,000 wi-fi extenders at around $55 each, meaning they had to raise over a million dollars in order to be able to do so.

Gavrilos reached out to various businesses and philanthropists in order to fund the project and received lots of enthusiasm, but perhaps none more than an NFL team.

“The response that we got from the Miami Dolphins social impact committee really is the heart and soul of this project,” Gavrilos said.

The Dolphins contributed both time and money to the project. In addition to the organization providing a check, players from the Dolphins helped set up the 25,000 wi-fi extenders to make sure they were working properly.

“We didn’t want to just write a check and have our players write a check, the players wanted to be involved, intentional, and they wanted to be in this from the start to the end,” said Jason Jenkins, the Senior Vice President of Communications and Community Affairs for the Miami Dolphins.

The Dolphins were also on hand at schools to pass the wi-fi extenders out to families. All of this was done during the middle of their season.

“Having our players come out to that event and see the work that they did configuring the extenders and then actually being able to distribute those was gratifying,” Jenkins said.

The project has faced some pushback and challenges. Dr. Miller said homeowners were concerned about the look of the poles being built near their homes.

Gavrilos talked about the challenges of educating the local community about the benefits of creating the wi-fi network. He believes that, while the foundation did a great job explaining what they were doing to the business and philanthropic community, they could have done a better job explaining to the public community the specifics and benefits of the initiative. Gavrilos said he and Dr. Miller had attended city council meetings where people angrily complained to them.

Butler cited vultures attacking solar panels, people shooting at solar cabinets and radios, and wasp nests in cabinets, as well as the process of finding the right spots for poles and receiving permits as some of the challenges they face on the construction end of the project.

Despite the challenges, the school district and Education Foundation remain confident in their project. Dr. Miller said that this initiative is intended to be permanent and that the county is building this into their regular budget.

“Every child in Palm Beach County should have equal access to everything my daughters have access to,” Miller said.

The county, district, and Education Foundation all believe in this project to help provide equality in education and internet access to lower income families.

“The goal is ultimately to eradicate the digital divide in Palm Beach County, so that regardless of where you live, regardless of the amount of money that you make, you have access to everything that the internet provides. Our students and our families deserve that,” said Jennifer Etheridge, the Director of Programs & Grants for the Education Foundation.