Dallas ISD’s new plan to increase high-speed internet accessibility

DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) – It’s something that can be easy to take for granted if you have it. But high-speed internet is an essential educational tool — one many students still don’t have access to. 

Sean Brinkman, the Chief Technology Officer for Dallas ISD, said plans to increase internet access for students predate COVID-19, but the pandemic accelerated those efforts. And things haven’t slowed down even though students are back to in-person learning now. 

“The struggle is what happens outside, after school when kids get home,” Brinkman said. “We know instruction and learning doesn’t end at the end of the school day.”

Brinkman said about 20% of Dallas ISD’s 140,000 students don’t have access to high-speed internet. The efforts to lower that percentage have evolved over the past few years.

And this year, the district is trying something different. They’re moving away from handing out laptops paired with hotspots. 

“There’s parts of our community that just wasn’t sufficient connectivity,” Brinkman said. “And you had two devices.”

Dallas ISD has invested in 15,000 laptops with eSIM cards, or digital SIM cards. These can be paired with any service provider, and allow the laptop to work without a hotspot.

When one of these devices is on a Dallas ISD campus, it will automatically connect to the district’s network. But when WiFi isn’t available, the eSIM card provides the laptop with mobile data.

“It essentially makes these into a large cell phone,” Brinkman said. 

The laptops are first being given to students at Frederick Douglass Elementary School. The district also recently upgraded the school’s broadband infrastructure.

“That’s how we’re gonna go through this. Figure out where there’s the most need for the student,” Brinkman said. “We’ll start there and eventually we’ll make our way as fast as possible through the rest of the district.”