City and school district partner to bridge digital divide

NextLight and St. Vrain Valley School District, or SVVSD, are partnering to bridge the digital divide for families that may not have a steady internet connection at home. 

The COVID pandemic saw SVVSD students switch to remote learning, with classes moved to Zoom meetings and homework submitted by iPad. According to data from the 2019 Census, 10.3% of Longmont households had no internet access, while 7% of Longmont households had no computer at home.

Sharing the NextLight provides symmetrical 100-megabit fiber optic connection for families in Longmont with students from Pre-K to grade 12 that qualify for free or reduced lunch or are part of a Head Start program. College students eligible for a Pell grant with six or more credit hours per semester can also qualify for the program. The program provides the NextLight connection at zero cost to the participating families.

Sharing the NextLight started in 2019, funded through subscriber donations and grants through the Longmont Community Foundation. According to Scott Rochat, public relations specialist for Longmont Power & Communication, 76 households have already enrolled in the program. The next hurdle is getting them signed up, which is where the partnership with the school district and outreach events come in, according to Rochat. 

Two events are planned for this week. The first outreach event was held on June 23 at Rocky Mountain Elementary, with representatives from the district and NextLight present to register qualified families.. The second is today at Northridge Elementary from 4 to 6 p.m.

“From the start, NextLight has been community-owned and community-focused, and this is one more opportunity for us to be a good neighbor to the community we serve,” Rochat said.

The event brought out the SVVSD Innovation Center’s mobile lab, giving students and parents an opportunity to see the new technology being used in classrooms throughout the district. 

“The idea of being at community events with the mobile lab is so we can share the amazing things that kids are doing in the classroom these days,” said Colin Rickman, Innovation Mobile Lab coordinator. “It still blows my mind what we can do, and I’ve been teaching for ten years.”

Patrick Mount, executive director of data and analytics for SVVSD, was on-site with members of the district technology service team to help determine family qualifications and coordinate with the NextLight representatives on hand. The event was fully bilingual in Spanish and English to provide as much equity as possible for a community in need.

“We’ve got very forward-thinking people with the city that have this program with NextLight already in place, and a very forward-thinking and innovative school district that’s been proactive in providing devices for students in need,” Mount said. “The last gap we have to resolve is making sure all students can access their education materials from home.”

“When the pandemic first started, we partnered with the school district knowing that students would be learning remotely, and that internet access would be super important,” said Layra Nicli, communications manager for NextLight. “Once we started that partnership and talked about the need to grow the program, we knew an event would be great once everyone could safely reconvene.”

Wednesday evening's event saw the enrollment of at least a dozen families for Share the NextLight. Nicli and Mount were both hopeful that even more families would come to the event at Northridge Elementary this evening.