Most Delaware schools have high-speed, high technology provided by the state. But, three Cape Henlopen School District elementary schools are among just 20 in the state without it.
The Delaware Department of Technology and Information installed the lines to nearly all schools, but officials say they have no plans to upgrade remaining lines.
H.O. Brittingham, Rehoboth and Milton elementary schools are among schools that will not be upgraded to transparent local area network service (TLS) internet service.
They will keep using older internet cables, installed by the state years ago.
Cape technology cadre Lori Roe said TLS lines have greater bandwidth so more information can flow through them, and more quickly, than the lines at the three elementary schools.
Michelle Ackles, executive assistant to the chief information officer of Department of Technology and Information, said the state finished installing TLS lines in 2008, as part of a project with Verizon, which took on $12 million of the construction cost.
The state took into consideration which schools used internet the most, and prioritized installation, she said. The schools in which TLS was not installed were not using the internet capacity they have and have not demonstrated need for more, she said.
She said installation is costly, and the price goes up for schools that are farther away from Verizon internet hubs. The average monthly cost is $1,000 per month, with an additional $100 for every mile the school is distant from the central hub, said Ackles. For the schools currently without TLS lines, the cost per month for the service ranges from $1,100 to $2,200 per month, she said.
Cape Superintendent George Stone said the district is investigating the cost of installing the lines. Even if that is feasible, he said the district will have to ask the Department of Education to pick up the tab for monthly usage fees.
Roe and other teachers say the absence of the TLS cables puts teachers and students there at a disadvantage. Old internet lines carry less data and are slower, leaving teachers and students with long waits for pages and videos to load, said Roe.
Kathy O’Hanlon, technology specialist at Shields Elementary in Lewes, said contemporary classrooms need speedy service to handle the district’s interactive educational tools. Subscriptions to teaching tools online pay for children to access reading and math programs online. They include videos and graphics, and students enter information the program processes, and programs are more effective when the computer responds quickly, said O’Hanlon.
Roe said teachers who use online applications that include add-ons, such as QuickTime and Flash, which allow streaming video and audio, can’t wait long for pages to load.
She said wasted time created by slow internet service has led to some using the internet less, while others download videos and pages on their personal time to spare classroom minutes for instruction and ease congestion on the internet cables.
Ackles said customer relations specialists that act as liaisons between the information department and other state agencies are offering consultations for schools without TLS, to examine how they use their networks and if they can manage them better. One technique to preserve bandwidth is to schedule when people download videos and other services, said Ackles. “We can help them manage their networks to get more use out of the capacity they currently have,” she said.
Roe said for teachers to have access to the best teaching tools, the schools’ infrastructure must be strong and must keep pace with developing technologies, because 21st-century learning is heavily technology based, she said. Of the 20 schools statewide without TLS, 12 are in Sussex County, Ackles said. She said more than 180 schools in the state have TLS.
