Lack of home Internet access hinders students with school-provided iPads

Mishayla Greene, a Woodmore Elementary student in Ashley Frogg's fourth-grade class, works on a new iPad that her class received from the Rotary Club. Mishayla Greene, a Woodmore Elementary student in Ashley Frogg's fourth-grade class, works on a new iPad that her class received from the Rotary Club.

By Joan Garrett McClane, Tim Omarzu December 23, 2014 5 min read

Mishayla Greene, a Woodmore Elementary student in Ashley Frogg’s fourth-grade class, works on a new iPad that her class received from the Rotary Club.

Interactive map

View a map showing where EPB gigabit and 100 mbps customers live, by zip code.

Replacing some Hamilton County students’ textbooks with iPads was a move intended to boost faltering public education performance.

Tablets were more engaging that their printed predecessors, and they opened up a world wide web of opportunity. Have a question? Just Google it. Plus, they prepared students for the ever-changing work world, in which even jobs flipping hamburgers require an application online.

But school officials say there is one big problem. Many of the students, once home with their brand-new devices, don’t have Internet access and likely won’t get it.

“For some time now, we’ve identified ourselves as a technological community,” Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Rick Smith said. Still, he said, “there’s going to be lots of kids that don’t have access at home.”