Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
REARDAN — Assuming that the majority of students in a district that extends for miles through lonely wheat fields all have reliable access to the Internet may be short-sighted, even in today’s age of instant accessibility. That’s why the Reardan school district is giving its staff a simple guideline:
Don’t assume your students will have reliable Internet on days of remote learning.
“(We tell staff), ‘don’t be giving them learning assignments that require the Internet on remote days,’” superintendent Eric Sobotta said. “Until we get everyone connected, we have to operate with that understanding.”
The Reardan School District is doing a combination of in-person and remote learning for most students. Others are doing either online or a remote/homeschool through the district.
To assist students who need Internet access but don’t have a reliable connection at home, the district is setting up after hours times when students can access school facilities (an “Internet cafe,” Sobotta calls it), receive tutoring and achieve reliable Internet connection through the school’s Wi-Fi network.
“(We’re) extending our hours to add a second shift for the kids that don’t have connectivity, or do and need some extra tutoring,” Sobotta said. “(We’ll) open up on-site (from) 4 p.m.-7 p.m. and the athletic directors would oversee that. Then the coaches who are going to miss out on a season (will be) repurposed into these roles of supervising or overseeing, if they want to.”
The district has also been looking into what level of reliable connectivity each student in its district has by surveying families and recording the data on interactive Google maps in an effort to better identify geographical areas within the district that don’t have reliable connection.
Alternative Internet options could include getting school buses connected to the school’s network, where students could social distance and connect through their school logins. There may also be some CARES funding available through OSPI to aid that process, which the district is looking into but doesn’t know if it will get.
“We could park two to six buses out from Edwall to the northeast and try and get a signal that way by shooting it from bus to bus,” Sobotta said. “But right now, our immediate (goal) is can we extend our (building) hours.”
The Reardan Methodist Church has also offered its building’s Wi-Fi network to students needing to complete assignments remotely, free of charge.
Meanwhile, the Reardan Memorial Library has free Wi-Fi available inside during its hours of operation, but students can log in outside the building at any time if they know the password. The library has two public computers inside, as well as a laptop for rent.
Currently, the library is limiting time spent inside the building to 30 minutes due to COVID-19 restrictions. Hours of operation are Tuesday 2 p.m.-5 p.m., Thursday 4 p.m.-7 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m..
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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