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- Salt Lake City School District launched a program providing free internet access.
- Over 1,000 students lack reliable internet, impacting homework and connectivity.
- T-Mobile hotspots are distributed, funded by local foundations and the district.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City School District has launched a pilot program to provide free internet access to students who don't have it at home.
District officials estimate about 7% of students — more than 1,000 children — lack reliable internet, making it difficult to complete homework and stay connected.
"Since COVID and the need for internet access for education, we've known that a lot of our families just don't have that access, and so creating this kind of connection for them was important," said Superintendent Elizabeth Grant. "Students would report that they're unable to do their work at home. They're unable to access projects. They're unable to communicate."
To address the gap, the district is distributing T-Mobile hotspots to families at no cost. The Salt Lake Education Foundation, the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation and the district fund the devices.
"If a student is in need of a hotspot, all they have to do is go to the front office of any of the schools in Salt Lake City School District, request, through the parent, a hotspot device for their student. It's already programmed with a secure network to ensure that the students are also accessing secured content and then making sure that all the educational resources from the school is also available for them," said James Yapias, senior director of the Salt Lake Education Foundation.
East High School senior and Student Body President Yamato Lerwill said the devices will help his peers stay connected socially and academically.
"Kids go to McDonald's or Starbucks or have to go to the library during late hours to access the internet because their assignments are due and there's no other way around it," Lerwill said. "It makes me excited for the education purposes, kids will actually have access to Canvas and stuff like that, but also to grow as a community. I'm excited to have kids have access to maybe Instagram or Facebook, so activities can grow."
Yapias said the program is expensive, and they have an idea of which students are eligible.
"When we work with counselors, administrators, we obviously ask those questions," Yapias said. "We've been doing the soft launch (for) about two months, testing it out. We already have over 100 students have access (to) this, and we're already seeing the benefits."
Currently, each school has a limited supply of hotspots, with high school students receiving priority. The district plans to start with 1,000 devices and hopes to expand the program to cover every student who needs one.
