Ballard R-II, a rural school district in western Missouri, celebrated a monumental leap forward as fiber Internet connectivity arrived in June, connecting its faculty, staff and students to a new world of high-speed data transmission for the first time.
The school district, a member of the Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet), had been relying on limited Internet access due to its rural location. MOREnet previously helped Ballard obtain a 100 Megabit per second (Mbps) wireless connection, and although this enabled Ballard to maintain Internet access, the school’s digital opportunities remained constrained as wireless connections are subject to weather variables and limited transmission speeds. “When a class of 15 were on their devices at the same time, the whole school would get bogged down. We could definitely feel the slowdown”, said Derrick Hartley, Ballard R-II superintendent.
MOREnet’s mission is to champion the technology needs of its consortium members, and as it’s done many times over the years, bring broadband connectivity to places that it’s never been before. The project of bringing fiber to this area of Bates County took a collaborative approach between MOREnet, the Missouri Connect and Learn Initiative and local vendors, to overcome many obstacles, including fiber optic supply chain shortages. “A major Internet provider said they would try to bring us Internet last year, and midway through the project they called and said it was going to cost more, to the tune of $1.2 million. We couldn’t do that”, shared Superintendent Hartley. However, with the hard work of MOREnet engineers, MOREnet representative Connie Smith, and Bluebird Network, the school’s MOREnet connection installation was completed prior to the June 30 deadline to maintain the approved E-rate special construction funding, which helped to subsidize the cost of the large project. Even though the town of Ballard is less than an hour away from the Kansas City Metropolitan area, the project required constructing over 25 miles of fiber to usher in a new era of convenience and broadband connectivity for Ballard R-II.
This exciting connection is also notable, as Ballard was the final MOREnet member site to move to fiber, which means 100% of MOREnet’s more than 600 connected members are now on a fiber Internet connection enabling seamless opportunities for bandwidth growth. “This school does not have any cellular service within 8 miles of the building. Only 50% of residents have access to Internet, and for those that do, the affordability of Internet is a major concern”, stated Hartley. Because of this connection, it is much more likely that other providers will now be able to install Internet, confirmed Debbie Warren of Bluebird Network. Superintendent Hartley said that in the past, Ballard school educators have not been able to easily access digital technologies, and online textbooks presented a true challenge. “I can only think of this [connection] as a positive, there are no negative aspects,” stated Hartley.
With this transformative infrastructure in place, students and educators are now able to embrace a world of endless learning possibilities. The district can readily tap into a wealth of educational resources included with their MOREnet membership, collaborate with experts from around the globe and engage in immersive virtual learning experiences. Ballard students will no longer be limited by their rural surroundings and have been granted a passport to knowledge that knows no boundaries.