Story provided by Stillwater Public Schools

Stillwater Public Schools was awarded an allotment of 758 Verizon Ellipsis Jetpack 900L Internet hotspots recently as a recipient of the Oklahoma State Department of Education CARES Act Hotspots Grant. 

To be eligible for the consideration, districts were required to have a distance learning plan adopted by – or a draft plan submitted to – the local school board and must have completed a survey of student families to determine the technology needs of the district. 

“This was my first opportunity to be directly involved in applying for a competitive grant and I knew Kevin Calvert, our Technology Director, and Assistant Superintendent Cathy Walker had laid groundwork providing adequate data to apply for this grant,” said Dee Atkins, Director of Federal and OSU Programs. “The three of us worked collectively to gather data to support our application and illustrate a clear need in Stillwater. We are thrilled to have received this competitive grant that will help us provide Internet access to hundreds of Stillwater students.” 

The hotspots will be used to provide unlimited 4G LTE Internet connectivity to low-income students who do not currently have an Internet connection at home in order to access online learning content. 

The district has focused resources this summer on developing a virtual learning option and enhancing processes to greatly improve distance learning should it need to be enacted due to school closures. “All SPS staff have high expectations for academic achievement this fall, and these devices will allow us to achieve greater equity in our online learning efforts and advance academic achievement throughout the district.” Superintendent Marc Moore said. “I’m proud of this team’s efforts to acquire this competitive grant.” SPS has also increased its supply of Chromebooks and purchased additional hotspots to supplement those provided by the grant to help ensure all students have access to needed resources.