Thompson School District has been awarded $737,000 from the Connecting Colorado Students Grant program to expand reliable internet service to families in two areas within the Loveland community where connectivity is limited or not available.
Thompson School District (TSD) plans to use the grant to partner with the City’s community-owned communications utility, Pulse, which provides high internet and voice services to build out infrastructure to students in the Big Thompson Canyon and the Lago Vista Mobile Home Park. These two locations are among TSD’s most underserved areas. They pose geographic challenges that limit access to cabled internet service and vital enough cell phone service to make hotspots an option.
“Over the last year, our district has worked diligently to assist families who haven’t had adequate access to the internet by offering and facilitating connection options; but we quickly recognized that for some areas of the community, there weren’t viable options,” said Dr. Matt Kuhn, TSD chief technology officer. “This grant money directly addresses the issue for families in these areas – we now have the resources to bring reliable internet to them so that access to learning and information will no longer be a barrier,” Matt said.
The Connecting Colorado Students Grant program was created last year after state lawmakers passed House Bill 20B-1001 moving a total of $20 million from the general fund to this new grant program to increase access to broadband services for students, educators, and other staff who require reliable internet access for online learning. Pulse will begin the planning process with property owners and other stakeholders in preparation for network installation.
“Pulse was formed to address, among other things, the disparity of access to reliable high-speed internet access within our community,” said Loveland City Manager Steve Adams. “As a local internet service provider, and TSD partner, we have the ability, desire, and duty to support the educational needs of students within our district who don’t have sufficient access to the internet,” Steve said.
For more information regarding Pulse, visit: LovelandPulse.com or learn more about Thomspon School District, visit thompsonschools.org.
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