One Approach to Closing the Digital Divide in a Rural County Jerry Waymire Assistant Superintendent Information Technology Kings County Office of Education Kings County Rural county located in the Southern San Joaquin Valley ID: 769209
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One Approach to Closing the Digital Divide in a Rural County Jerry Waymire Assistant Superintendent, Information Technology Kings County Office of Education
Kings County Rural county located in the Southern San Joaquin Valley Primary Industry is Agriculture 1,391 Sq. Miles (1170 Sq. Miles Farmland)Approximately 27,000 studentsHigh percentage of economically disadvantaged families
The need for connectivity anytime anywhere Kings County is a rural county with large geographical areas and sparse population Broadband options for schools and the community are limited The few options available in many cases are cost prohibitive for the families in our communitiesSchools are adopting digital curriculum and tools as part of the learning processSchool leaders are concerned with equity of access for students at home to the learning materials and tools used at school
How did we approach this challenge? Leverage existing technology assets across our county such as our robust network connectivity to schools Use of the 2.5 GH z FCC Licenses known as Educational Broadband Service or EBS (formerly called ITFS) to build a private networkDevelop partnerships with other agencies within the county
16 LTE Sites in Operation Corcoran (2-sites) IslandLemoore (2-sites)AvenalKettleman City Armona Hanford (6-sites) Central (South Lemoore including tribal lands) Stratford Kings County LTE Sit es
KingsNet Customer Base 850 LTE Home Users 4200 Student Users
Island School: 6-Sector Cell Site Throughput
Corcoran Academic Results 14-15 to 15-16 Suspensions Grades K-12 60% Decrease Failure Rates Grades 6-12 10% DecreaseMiddle School Honor Roll (Grades 6-12) 30% IncreaseMiddle School Promotion (Grades 6-12) 50% Increase Students Ready for 4-Year College 33% Increase High School Graduation Rate Over 90% Parent Use of District App Doubled Parent Communications System Use 33% Increase Students Enrolled in Concurrent College Courses Doubled Students Passing Core Courses Doubled
Avenal Academic Results 14-15 to 15-16
Avenal Academic Results 14-15 to 15-16
Unexpected Community Benefits Community access Computer literacy classes for adults E-commerce in rural communitiesAbility to access resources online
Pricing Structure Students in participating schools - Free School Pays $10 per month per mobile hotspot. The hotspot allows up to 6 computers to connect to the Internet. Families where school is not yet participating$15 per month for low income families. $30 per month for all others.
LTE Business Model Scalability
Key Takeaways Improved Student Academic Performance Increased Student Participation Decreased Disciplinary IncidentsIncreased Parent/Student CollaborationIncreased Access to Online Resources Low Income Rate Payer Programs
LTE Architecture
Customer Premise Equipment Indoor and Outdoor configurations Band 41 (TDD) - 2.5 Ghz - EBS Built-in WiFi
Terms Used throughout the Presentation Educational Broadband Service or EBS : Formally known as the Instruction Fixed Television Service (ITFS), ITFS was a band 20 microwave TV channels available to be licensed by the FCC to local credit granting educational institutions.4G: Is the fourth generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology, examples of commercial systems: WiMax and LTE Long Term Evolution (LTE) : is a standard for high-speed wireless communication for mobile phones and data terminals Geographical Service Area (GSA) : Allowed coverage area using the EBS frequencies Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) : Equipment used by the end-user of the wireless system. This can be fixed, mobile or embedded in smartphones or tablets
Thank You! Jerry Waymire Assistant Superintendent, Information Technology jwaymire@kingscoe.org(559)589-2505