(TNS) — Thousands of students across Lincoln will soon be able to access their online homework assignments and class materials from anywhere in Lincoln, regardless of whether their home has Internet.
Lincoln Public Schools and Allo Fiber are teaming up to provide access to wireless Internet for all LPS middle and high school students through the Internet provider’s Smart Schools program.
Allo will use nearly 100,000 business and residential access points to create a network that’s accessible to participating students on their school-issued Chromebooks. Once connected, students can take advantage of free, high-speed Wi-Fi from home or at local businesses and other public places.
About 2,000 LPS high schoolers already have access to the Smart Schools Internet, but it will now be available to the roughly 23,000 LPS students in grades 6-12.
To gain access to the Smart Schools network, students must go to their online portal and request a help ticket. They should click “Other,” “Allo SmartTown for Education,” and type a comment before submitting the ticket.
The network will maintain at-school safety features, ensuring students won’t be able to access any unsafe or inappropriate content.
Leaders from LPS and Allo and Gov. Jim Pillen announced the expanded partnership outside of Lincoln High School Friday afternoon.
“The one thing we all agree on, right? Our kids are our future. We’re never going to give up on our kids, and we sure as heck got to have them in the 21st century,” Pillen said.
The program is currently available to some school districts throughout the state, including in Waverly, York, Grand Island, Imperial and Sidney. There are plans to expand the program in Roca, Hastings and North Platte. Several communities in Colorado and Arizona also take part.
Students can use the Smart Schools network to connect to the Internet in any participating community.
The partnership represents a shared commitment by LPS and Allo to provide equitable access to the Internet by eliminating broadband barriers that often disproportionately affect underserved students.
The idea to offer accessible Internet to all students born during the COVID-19 pandemic when many students faced limitations to their learning. At the time, many students learned virtually, exacerbating disparities among low-income students.
“Can you believe that we had people sitting outside coffee shops and pizza joints and hamburger joints that really wanted to learn and couldn’t?” said Brad Moline, Allo president.
Smart Schools enables students to extend learning beyond the walls of the school building, essentially “expanding the classroom,” according to Allo.
Moline thanked Allo customers for making Smart Schools possible, because residential access points ensure students across Lincoln can get online. His vision is for students to use Smart Schools to learn where they couldn’t learn before, whether at home or out in the community.
“Maybe it’s sitting over in the parking lot. Maybe it’s sitting down at the Railyard,” Moline said. “We should be a community that learns everywhere.”
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