Pulling into the King William High School’s parking lot, Holly Sill shuts off her car and waits as her two children connect to the school’s Wi-Fi and begin their daily coursework.
With a 3-year-old, two high schoolers and herself, the car becomes cramped. The remaining space is quickly filled as notebooks and papers sprawl across unclaimed territory. With computers resting in their laps, it is a necessary balancing act.
Like many in the region, Sill and her family do not have adequate internet access. In order to finish their schoolwork, they make the drive nearly every day, sitting for long periods of time in the parking lot.
“We had been going to my parent’s house in Henrico to do school work,” Sill said. “We haven’t done so in over a week because I am afraid of putting my almost 70-year-old parents at risk.”
With social distancing at the forefront of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Virginia Department of Health’s protocol to stop the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, folks are now working from home and schools are moving classrooms to the digital world.
While communicating through email, meeting online and holding classes in a virtual setting is not ideal, it is feasible in more densely populated, urban areas. For those living in rural settings, maintaining a job, staying on top of schoolwork or merely surviving months of quarantine becomes an everyday challenge with little to no internet access.
Finishing an academic year at home
When Gov. Ralph Northam issued a mandate requiring all K-12 schools to close for the remainder of the academic year, it sent shock waves through the community and its school divisions.
Those in the Tidewater regions’ most rural counties, King William and King and Queen, might feel the after-effects for years to come, according to the Virginia Department of Education’s media relations director Charles Pyle. .
The Virginia Department of Education is working closely with local divisions to decide the best course of action, offering guidelines on how to adjust during this unprecedented time.
While the VDOE has suspended Standards of Learning tests and has offered leniency for credit and graduation requirements, its media relations director Charles Pyle said the department’s guidance is broad because each division looks different.
Presently, the department has not issued any guidance on how to deal with a lack of substantial internet access.
“We do not provide the mechanics, we offer guidelines and the divisions have the power to decide how they conduct the rest of the year,” Pyle said. “We encourage them to make use of their capabilities. There are some that are taking advantage of their robust online presence and some that use transportation to deliver learning packets.”
Divisions have considered the state department’s guidelines and are moving forward with their plans to finish out the school year.
While King William and King and Queen counties face similar internet limitations, each school division has offered up different approaches to the problem.
In King and Queen County, students will complete the rest of the academic year entirely offline. Picking up learning packets every two weeks at the schools, students are required to complete and turn them in.
“We made this decision because a lot of our families do not have internet,” Superintendent Carol Carter said.
In King William County, the school division is offering learning packets for its primary and elementary students, and has online material for its middle and high school students.
Through Schoology, an online education app that allows teachers to post notes, assignments and lectures, students are required to use their school-issued laptops to complete their work, Superintendent David White said.
Realizing that some students might not have adequate internet access, the school set up a hot spot for residents to drive there and work from their cars.
Despite the division’s efforts, community response has not been as forthcoming.
“It’s just not a comfortable environment to do work in the car as they suggest and, on top of that, Schoology has been down, which is another inconvenience,” resident Emily Gifford said. Working to keep up with schoolwork and dealing with anxiety, Gifford said her daughter struggles with the new challenges. .
Choosing to do schoolwork at home poses its own problems, as it is a feat just to get adequate internet connection.
“Our son is a junior, and doing homework from home is very hard,” resident Tammy Nelson said. “Something that should take 2 to 3 hours to do turns into 10 to 12 hours because of the connection.”
Virginia is not alone in its internet access problems. Like many states, it faces an internet saturation disconnect, which means access to high-speed internet is readily available in urban and heavily populated localities, while its rural landscape sees limited access.
For example, in 2017 Northern Virginia saw 70% of the world’s internet traffic, while only 55% of the state’s rural population had access to high-speed internet, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report.
While there are several reasons for the disconnect, it is primarily because bigger internet companies prefer to set up shop in heavily-populated areas where activation costs are low and there are more people to connect. With fewer people spread out across a large distance of land, rural communities must rely on slower internet speeds at a higher cost.
While other divisions in areas with adequate internet do not face the same problems, the VDOE said it cannot determine whether those divisions will be ahead of those who do not have adequate access.
If students miss out on certain required lessons then the division will be required to include what was missed in the upcoming year, Pyle said.
“You can’t have an event like this without feeling an impact,” he added. “But our guidelines offer help to keep them moving along and on track.”
Accessibility and providers in the Tidewater region
While residents in King William and King and Queen counties have the same means of connection, either broadband, satellite or through cable lines, like their urban counterparts, their options are limited to only a few companies that offer slower connection speeds, limited data and higher costs.
For both counties, the primary providers include Atlantic Broadband, HughesNet, ViaSat and Verizon DSL.
After several meetings with local governments, Atlantic Broadband began activating its fiber-optic network in November 2019. While it offers the highest downloading rates, 50 megabits per second, at the lowest cost, $40 month, it is only available to roughly 3,000 homes in the two counties.
Following the COVID-19 outbreak, Atlantic Broadband set up hot spots for folks to drive-in and access the internet for free. The closest are located at 48 New St. and 6814 General Puller Highway, Saluda.
For most, ViaSat and HughesNet are the best, if not the only, option as their services are available to everyone in the county as long as their satellite connection is not blocked by foliage.
Likewise, people who have a landline phone can choose to connect through Verizon DSL. The dial-up connection has its limitations as folks cannot use their phone and the internet at the same time.
In order for one student to complete schoolwork or for one person to telecommute, the Federal Communications Commission recommends people pick a plan with a minimum download speed of 25 Mbps and at least 10 GB of data.
While megabytes per second determines the speed in which something is downloaded, data determines the amount of usage per month.
While urban areas have many options to choose from, rural residents are limited in their plans.
Both HughesNet and ViaSat’s plans range from $50 to $150 a month for 12-25 Mbps with a 10-50 GB cap. Based on the Federal Communication Commission’s recommendations, the average family of four should purchase a plan exceeding 25 Mbps with 50 GB of data.
Between activation and monthly costs, the average family would pay more than $200 a month for a slow connection speed. If they choose the basic plan, they run the risk of exceeding their data limit and paying additional fees.
“My family and I live down Route 30, in the sticks, and it’s impossible to get decent internet without paying hundreds. All of my teenager’s schooling and my own is 100% online,” King William resident Amy Koch said, who has a daughter in high school. “I’ve put my college education on hold in order for them to do their stuff. Not to mention being cooped up and not being able to use any form of television streaming service due to a lack of internet service.”
In comparison, residents living in the nearest city, Richmond, 25 miles away, have the option to pay $40 month for 200 Mbps with 50 GB of data, according to Verizon’s website.
With both counties’ poverty rates resting between 7% and 12% and state unemployment rates on the rise, the cost of having internet is just not feasible for many.
Hope for the region
In 2017, Northam announced his goal to bridge the gap and eliminate the saturation disconnect by 2028. With a plan to bring high-speed internet access to its rural localities, the state developed the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative Program, through the Department of Housing and Community Development.
In 2017, Gov. Northam announced his goal to bridge the gap and eliminate the saturation disconnect by 2028. With a plan to bring high-speed internet access to its rural localities, the state developed the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative Program, through the Department of Housing and Community Development.
The VATI program provides targeted funds and grants to qualifying localities in need of high-speed, broadband internet access. If approved, localities will receive a budgeted amount of money that they will have to match by 20 percent, State Office of Broadband Director Tamarah Harris said.
According to Harris, the state plans to allocate roughly $19 million annually to help facilitate its plan to have an estimated 660,000 people without access to join the grid by 2028.
While the COVID-19 outbreak is expected to affect federal, state and local economies, the state’s Broadband Policy Specialist Kyle Rosner said the state plans to continue allocating funds toward the program.
While the application process is competitive, King and Queen County was approved and is set to receive $2.2 million to expand its broadband efforts. It is expected to be budgeted into the fiscal year 2020-2021 budget.
Additionally, both counties have formed internet authority committees to appeal to outside perspectives and bring in more viable options.
“Since I’ve been in this role, I’ve seen it firsthand that we do have a problem and we need projects like this in order to get everyone access,” Harris said.
Emily Holter, emily.holter@virginiamedia.com, 757-256-6657, @EmilyHolterNews.
