By Jim Tager
I’ve had 38 “first days” and never in my wildest imagination would I have ever considered how this 38th year in education would come to a close.
The reaction by the Flagler Schools family (and I include our administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, and School Board members in this group), has been remarkable in the face of this novel coronavirus. We were able to switch from a brick-and-mortar model to a virtual learning model almost overnight.
This could not have been done without the continued support of our Flagler County voters. In 2002 they voted in a half-penny sales tax enabling the district to provide wireless connectivity on our campuses and begin purchasing devices for our students and teachers. Voters opted to continue it ten years later. In a couple of years, they will be asked to renew it yet again and I hope how we’ve handled this global crisis will show just how important that support has been and will continue to be.
We have provided devices to all of our nearly 13,000 students and 2,000 to our teachers and other vital staff who needed to stay connected virtually to their offices. We have also distributed 400 hotspots from Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon in an effort to keep everyone connected.
However, we have learned that once our students and staff get away from our campuses, sometimes technology is not nearly as reliable as it should be. The biggest challenge we continue to face is a reliable internet connection in homes.
I strongly encourage our local communication providers to quickly expand their reach in our county. Cell service has always been a tough subject, but reliable cell service would go a long way in connecting our families. Even better, would be the addition of physical lines to bring high-speed internet to the west side of Flagler County. Without this reliable service, all of us in the education profession know we have students who are not on equal footing with their peers in other parts of our community who may have a stronger internet connection to their school.
We’ve had great partnerships with our communication companies as they have contributed greatly to how technology is handled on our campuses. These partnerships have helped Flagler Schools become an A-rated district. We compassionately plea for our communication companies to continue that partnership into the far-reaches of Flagler County. We are continuing our Virtual Learning plan through the end of this school year and I realize a quick fix is not feasible at this time. With the information we have all been able to gather this first month though, this is when plans should be made to fill in these technology gaps. The need for strong, reliable connectivity for all students to their schools is valuable, even in times outside of a crisis situation.
To put it simply, we now see reliable internet connection just as vital to our families as water and power in providing virtual learning for all students.
Jim Tager has been the superintendent in Flagler County schools since July 2017.
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Outsider says
Good luck with that. My daughter is a student at FPC. We only live a few miles outside of Palm Coast, but the only internet we have available is satellite. It is marginally better than dial up used to be, but costs 150 a month for 50 GB of data. I’ve called the cable companies as well as AT&T Uverse, and inquired about DSL. None of them are interested in making the investment to run a wire three miles from town. Being that 5G requires repeaters every 500 to 700 feet, my county road is not going to see this for some time, if ever. Maybe the commission can look into persuading the cable companies to run wires, even if there is some sort of assessment. I would pay a thousand dollars to get good service out here.
Bradley Meader says
I agree with outsider. I live 2.25 miles west of U.S 1 and have had both AT&T and Spectrum come to my house and refuse to run a line. How would the county react if FP&L refused to provide electricity to a resident because they felt running the line was too costly for them
Gayle says
The less money a family makes or the cheaper the property they are wanting to buy, dictates the amount of internet service that is available.
Poor families living away from the city or that want cheaper taxes to feel as if they have more, will always have less beneficial services than those that pay more.
These are things you consider when purchasing a home or choosing a place to rent. Its kind of silly to expect anything more. These families will just have to do home schooling instead of ineternet school like the well to do children.
Sandra Sites says
Entitled much?? “Its kind of silly to expect anything more.”?? Wow. People live different places for different reasons, however, even in times like these they are not ‘silly’ to expect their children be given the same level of education as others in the district. It is not an unreasonable expectation. And that last sentence is just beyond deserving of a response.
Patrice says
That is offensive. I live on a county road and have a beautiful home on 5 acres. I chose the peace and quiet to the overcrowed city of palm coast. I am a medical professional and expect all areas to be up on the technology. The house at the end of my road has spectrum but the rest of the road does not. The companies pick and chose where tbey run tbe lines. I have hughes net which is a rip off and my daughter is a nursing student in her last semester struggling to complete her work. It has nothing to do with be poor or lower taxes. Mine are comparable to the city. Its about companies like hughesnet taki g advantage of people.
Sarah Crosby says
Wow you have this all wrong. I’m also shocked that you would refer to people who live in the country as poor or wanting to feel like they have more buy paying lower taxes. I’m sorry but that comment you made is rude and uncalled for. Just because my son lives here in the middle of farm land he shouldn’t get the same opportunities as a kid who lives in Palm Coast. How can one think that way. He deserves the same as a child from the city and shouldn’t be punished for living where he does.
JB says
Actually, if you speak with the ISPs you will learn that it’s not about “poor” vs “well to do”, but it’s about population density. With a much less dense population because of larger parcels, the ISP has less room to profit on their capital investment.
Outsider says
Gayle, you make a lot of assumptions that aren’t necessarily correct. I CHOSE to live outside of town; my daughters ride horses and the neighbors would have a fit if I put them in my backyard in Palm Coast. I don’t like to brag, but I even more so dislike when arrogant people think they are smarter than the rest of the world. I can live virtually anywhere in this county. The ridiculous mortgage calculators tell me I can “afford” a 1.2 million dollar home. I chose to buy a bargain for less than 1/5 that. I could have a new BMW in my driveway, but I don’t feel the need to impress people like you. Maybe I live where I do so I’m not living next to haughty know-it-all’s. I’m not sure how you expect me to hone school a high school student and a fourth year college student majoring in a field I know little about, but I guess if you can think it, it must be true. Regardless, I am willing to pay For a portion of the expense of getting better service out here, for all of my wonderful peeps. Now, can any of the powers that be comment on the likelihood of improving service “out here?”
marvin says
I have been pushing past Flagler County administrators and talking to some commissioners for the past 5 years about the need for a citizens committee to help put pressure and some shame on some of the utility companies underserving certain areas of Flagler County, especially during natural disasters. At a time when the government increasingly relies upon the internet, it is shameful not to coincidentally make sure that utilities are doing their part so that we don’t have second-class citizens, some of whom are feeding our faces. Millions of dollars are going to some of these utilities but you would never know it when you travel in some parts of Flagler, and I don’t just mean the west side. Commissioner Mullins has been looking at the problem but the overall commission and administration need to make this a high priority and throw staff support behind an inventory check of what this County needs and how best to get there. Some improvements could be made by simply turning the heat up on utilities with bad PR where needed.
mark101 says
And throughout this article is never one word about Spectrum.
Musk Rat says
By year’s end: https://starlink.com
In case y’all been missing those rockets flying over your heads every few weeks.
AT&T and Charter’s worst nightmare coming. 650mb @ $60
It’s not a coincidence the executive members of AT&T are “retiring to spend more time with family”.
If the city gets their heads out of the Fibernet’s ass, they can get in line now to secure the first round of 1m available receivers for rural qualifying communities.
Outsider says
Musk Rat, I have been watching the launch of those constellations and was wondering when they will be able to help us with our service. Hopefully it will be soon!
Tom says
It would be nice in the Favoretta area of the county too. I have to have satellite for TV and internet and it cost me over $250 a month just for mediocre service!
CB from PC says
Companies invest in infra-structure providing service…of any kind based on ROI.
The access to technology, for something as basic as reliable Internet service will be predicated on earning a profit.
Is it right to deprive kid’s of an education due to lack of acces?
A better question is, is it Legal?
The Flagler County Board of Education had better quickly determine how to get these kids online. After all, educating the students of Flagler County, rich or poor, I’d THEIR JOB.
Lance Carroll says
Internet service is sparce, at best, at West side of county. I agree with comment on home school being a better option than the distance learning. Thanks to all educators and network trying there best under an adverse situation
Respectfully,
Lance Carroll
Sherry says
Again. . . entitled discrimination rears it’s “very ugly” head in a comment here! Blaming the Victims! You should be ashamed!
This is a symptom of the down side of “Capitalism”! Maximizing profits” for “VITAL” services. . . focus on the ROI. . . when the EQUAL ACCESS to education hangs in the balance! Why isn’t the school board up in arms “DEMANDING” the home internet access now REQUIRED for students to attend remote classes? Why isn’t the governor fixing this?
Internet providers need to be brought under the umbrella of government regulation just like electric companies! In some cases, we need “more” regulation, not less.