Coquillard Elementary School Principal Antoine Reed speaks about students’ increased engagement in remote learning in a Monday press conference announcing the expansion of free internet eligibility for qualifying families in the South Bend Community School Corp. Staff photo by Carley Lanich
SOUTH BEND — Free internet access is available to any South Bend Community School Corp. families with students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Citywide Classroom South Bend — a partnership between the city of South Bend, the school district and local nonprofit enFocus — has already served nearly 1,000 households across the city through a needs-based rollout of at-home internet plans and mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, program leaders announced Monday.
Those connections are currently serving more than 1,700 students districtwide.
“This initiative has really worked on easing the burden that our families face with internet access,” said Patrick Stalvey, chief technology officer for South Bend schools. “We’ve started moving the bar, but we still have more to go. The good news is we still have more internet to provide.”
Students’ homes may be eligible for a Comcast Internet Essentials service package or a mobile data hotspot through the Citywide Classroom South Bend program.
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