St. Clair County RESA is providing free, 24-hour, high-speed Wi-Fi access across the county to local students, faculty, and staff who may not have high-speed internet connectivity at home.
RESA’s IT Department has set up the hotspots in school parking lots across the county so users can maintain social distancing while accessing the internet from their cars. The project was made possible by a Michigan MiConnect grant.
“This technology will help support our students, staff, and families who live in areas of our county that don’t have high-speed internet service,” said St. Clair County RESA Superintendent Dr. Kevin Miller. “This is exactly what we are trying to accomplish in conjunction with our Community Educational Network, formed a few years ago to use our RESA fiber network to reach homes without reliable, secure, and high-speed internet, which is critical during times of remote learning.”
The Wi-Fi hotspots allow students without internet access and those with unstable or slow home service to drive to locations across the county to get free and fast connections. The service provides a full range of internet usage from an individual’s personal device, such as viewing websites, downloading materials, and logging in to instructional programs. At all of the hotspots, students and staff will be able to connect to the network using their school credentials.
RESA is working with local communities to expand the number of these “drive-in” internet locations.
Parking lot WiFi locations and directions on how to connect to the network are available on the RESA website at www.sccresa.org.
Submitted by St. Clair County RESA
