Local School Districts to Provide Own Internet

Two area school districts, Whitnall and Greenfield, are in the middle of a huge undertaking. They're going to be providing their own internet. As it is now. Whitnall High School students say the internet is fast, just maybe not everyday.

"Like a whole class will be downloading app, or they'll be testing, where the internet will slow down and that'll cause the whole school to slow down production," said Riley Nugent, a soon-to-be junior at Whitnall.

The internet is a very important part of a school day, it's the age we live in.

"A network has become a critical piece. When that network goes down, learning stops," said Eric Gram, Tech Director for the Whitnall School District.

A project is underway, right now, to provide fiber optic, ultra high speed internet in every Whitnall and Greenfield School and Greenfield city office.

"For our students personally here at Whitnall, we're gonna see a huge increase in efficiency, faster internet connection times."

The installation for this internet comes at a cost....around $2 million to install the fiber optic internet, but that is exactly how much the districts save over 15 years and it may not even take that long to see the savings.

"We're only paying for internet access itself, that's far cheaper than paying one of the big telecoms for access where we have to pay for both their lines and internet access itself, and that's where we see the savings," Gram added.

Dollar savings, and savings when it comes to time.

"Compared to home, this is already ridiculously fast, but I mean it's just gonna be like instant, now," said Evan Hecht, a soon-to-be junior.

The internet is expected to be ready for use by the time school starts in the fall.

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