Over the past few weeks we've been busy speaking with school administrators regarding the importance of internet access. If you have a student at Hoover High School take note: they are really doing some exciting things on the campus to bring students into the second decade of the 21st century! We will soon have a separate blog entry on those changes.
Another thing we've been working on is to talk with local and state officials regarding the issue of non-access for lower income families. On November 1 we met with State Sen. Jabo Waggoner and State Representative Paul DeMarco. We had the opportunity to introduce both of them to one of the students who is affected by this problem.
On Wednesday, November 9, 2011 we received an e-mail with a link to a Washington Post story. The name of the story is FCC plans cheap Internet service and computers to connect poor Americans . Basically the story indicates that ISPs are going to provide families who have students on the Free/Reduced Lunch Program internet access for $10/month and will contract a company to provide these families with refurbished laptops for $150. The plan is basically a mirror of the Comcast plan rolled out earlier this year and will be implemented in the spring of 2012.
So...mission accomplished? Did our comversation with Sen. Sessions' office (spoke with Graham Hixon on 8/18/11) make a difference? Remember, Mr. Hixon indicated that he was meeting with the FCC that day, however it was dealing with the ATT/T-Mobile merger. I decided to call Mr. Hixon and he indicated that he was very happy with the news, but that it was something that the FCC had been working on for a while with the different cable companies.
Frankly, we don't care how it got done. The point is that it got done. This move by the FCC will benefit millions (25 million to be exact, according to the article) of students, assuming all ISPs are on board. Let's hope they are.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Online Courses offered at UA. But not for all.
Hoover High School sends out a daily e-newsletter to parents. October 10's edition has the following information:
All students and parents are invited to learn more about online dual enrollment classes through the University of Alabama Early College on Monday, October 10th in the HHS theatre at 6:00 pm. Following their sophomore year HHS students with a 3.0 gpa or above can begin earning dual enrollment high school and college credit. The Director of UA Early College, Dr. Causey and Cindy Bond, HHS College and Career Specialist will be available to answer questions following the presentation.
Academic Opportunity for Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors with a 3.0 grade point average: HHS students can earn dual enrollment high school and college credit through the UA Early College. UA Early College is an on-line learning experience offered through the University of Alabama. Interested students should gather more information by visiting http://uaearlycollege.ua.edu/ or by emailing Mrs. Bond, HHS College and Career Specialist, at cbond@hoover.k12.al.us. Students must take an on-line gateway course before they are allowed to register for academic coursework. The next gateway course begins on 10/11/11. Students need to understand that if they decide to participate in UA Early College, this coursework will be included on both their high school and college transcript. Information about cost of attendance and tuition can also be found on the Early College website. This program could be especially valuable for current sophomores and juniors as they could take courses such as Microcomputer Applications, English 101 and 102, Arabic, or Chinese all of which count as graduation requirements for HHS and are also accepted in the core curriculum required by accredited colleges and universities. Sophomores are able to take the gateway course this coming spring and would then be able to begin taking dual enrollment classes the summer between their sophomore and junior year. For example, a sophomore would register for English 101 and 102 and upon successful completion of this course would have earned 6 hours of college credit as credit for their junior year of high school English.
Unless they don't have access to the internet. Then the above two paragraphs do not apply.
All students and parents are invited to learn more about online dual enrollment classes through the University of Alabama Early College on Monday, October 10th in the HHS theatre at 6:00 pm. Following their sophomore year HHS students with a 3.0 gpa or above can begin earning dual enrollment high school and college credit. The Director of UA Early College, Dr. Causey and Cindy Bond, HHS College and Career Specialist will be available to answer questions following the presentation.
Academic Opportunity for Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors with a 3.0 grade point average: HHS students can earn dual enrollment high school and college credit through the UA Early College. UA Early College is an on-line learning experience offered through the University of Alabama. Interested students should gather more information by visiting http://uaearlycollege.ua.edu/ or by emailing Mrs. Bond, HHS College and Career Specialist, at cbond@hoover.k12.al.us. Students must take an on-line gateway course before they are allowed to register for academic coursework. The next gateway course begins on 10/11/11. Students need to understand that if they decide to participate in UA Early College, this coursework will be included on both their high school and college transcript. Information about cost of attendance and tuition can also be found on the Early College website. This program could be especially valuable for current sophomores and juniors as they could take courses such as Microcomputer Applications, English 101 and 102, Arabic, or Chinese all of which count as graduation requirements for HHS and are also accepted in the core curriculum required by accredited colleges and universities. Sophomores are able to take the gateway course this coming spring and would then be able to begin taking dual enrollment classes the summer between their sophomore and junior year. For example, a sophomore would register for English 101 and 102 and upon successful completion of this course would have earned 6 hours of college credit as credit for their junior year of high school English.
Unless they don't have access to the internet. Then the above two paragraphs do not apply.
Friday, September 9, 2011
More contacts
I was given some information on a State of Alabama agency called Connecting Alabama (http://www.connectingalabama.gov), which is attempting to get all of Alabama on broadband.
I contacted their Jefferson county regional representative, Chelese Beck (http://www.connectingalabama.gov/ca/default.aspx?page=27) . There are many things that they share with us, especially getting students connected to the internet. We hope to work with them in achieving this goal.
On the legislative front, we received a letter from Rep. Bachus. The letter acknowledged that Rep. Bachus received our correspondence and indicated that the Congressman would look at the bill regarding low income broadband access once it comes out of committee.
I contacted their Jefferson county regional representative, Chelese Beck (http://www.connectingalabama.gov/ca/default.aspx?page=27) . There are many things that they share with us, especially getting students connected to the internet. We hope to work with them in achieving this goal.
On the legislative front, we received a letter from Rep. Bachus. The letter acknowledged that Rep. Bachus received our correspondence and indicated that the Congressman would look at the bill regarding low income broadband access once it comes out of committee.
Friday, August 26, 2011
E-Mail to Rep. Bachus' Office
I sent the following e-mail to Philip Swartzsager, staff member in Rep. Spencer Bachus' office:
Philip,
We spoke last week regarding attempting to get support for broadband access for low income students in Hoover (and the rest of Alabama, for that matter).
At the time, you indicated that you would be doing some more research on the matter and get back to me.
Here are a couple of items to be aware of:
1) In order to get their merger with NBC/Universal approved by the FCC, one of the conditions that Comcast Cable placed upon themselves was the creation of the Internet Essentials program that provides $10.00 per month broadband access to low income families (criteria for low income is that there have to be school age children in the household who are on free or reduced lunches). AT&T is in the process of having their application for merger with T-Mobile approved by the FCC. The clock had stopped on the process but it started again today. I would like Rep. Bachus' suggest to the FCC that one of the conditions of the approval of the merger be that AT&T provide a program like Comcast's Internet Essentials to the customers in their entire service area.
2) I spoke to Sen. Sessions' staff member Graham Hixon last week. Graham was to meet with the FCC this week regarding the merger and will look into the above condition.
3) Please have Rep. Bachus support H.R. 2163, The Broadband Affordability Act of 2011, introduced by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), that basically seeks the same thing as what we're looking for by using the Federal UCC tax.
Please let me know where your office stands on the above.
Philip,
We spoke last week regarding attempting to get support for broadband access for low income students in Hoover (and the rest of Alabama, for that matter).
At the time, you indicated that you would be doing some more research on the matter and get back to me.
Here are a couple of items to be aware of:
1) In order to get their merger with NBC/Universal approved by the FCC, one of the conditions that Comcast Cable placed upon themselves was the creation of the Internet Essentials program that provides $10.00 per month broadband access to low income families (criteria for low income is that there have to be school age children in the household who are on free or reduced lunches). AT&T is in the process of having their application for merger with T-Mobile approved by the FCC. The clock had stopped on the process but it started again today. I would like Rep. Bachus' suggest to the FCC that one of the conditions of the approval of the merger be that AT&T provide a program like Comcast's Internet Essentials to the customers in their entire service area.
2) I spoke to Sen. Sessions' staff member Graham Hixon last week. Graham was to meet with the FCC this week regarding the merger and will look into the above condition.
3) Please have Rep. Bachus support H.R. 2163, The Broadband Affordability Act of 2011, introduced by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), that basically seeks the same thing as what we're looking for by using the Federal UCC tax.
Please let me know where your office stands on the above.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
New Developments
Of the three broadband providers in Hoover, only one actually seemed to be interested in our cause, and that was Bright House Networks.
Robert Smith of Bright House contacted me today and said that they had some high level discussions on the implementation of a program, but they were having some administrative hurdles, which he explained.
Mr. Smith also brought up something that neither Rep. Bachus' office, nor Sen. Sessions' office were aware of, and that is a bill that a Congresswoman from California was trying to get passed.
Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) has introduced H.R. 2163, The Broadband Affordability Act of 2011
In a nutshell, this piece of legislation does what we are attempting to accomplish. I have calls in to Rep. Bachus' office and Sen. Sessions' office. As soon as I speak with them, it will be time to contact all of your representatives in Washington to get their support on this important bill.
I'll report back when I hear more.
Robert Smith of Bright House contacted me today and said that they had some high level discussions on the implementation of a program, but they were having some administrative hurdles, which he explained.
Mr. Smith also brought up something that neither Rep. Bachus' office, nor Sen. Sessions' office were aware of, and that is a bill that a Congresswoman from California was trying to get passed.
Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) has introduced H.R. 2163, The Broadband Affordability Act of 2011
In a nutshell, this piece of legislation does what we are attempting to accomplish. I have calls in to Rep. Bachus' office and Sen. Sessions' office. As soon as I speak with them, it will be time to contact all of your representatives in Washington to get their support on this important bill.
I'll report back when I hear more.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Sen. Sessions Response
I spoke with Graham Hixon from Sen. Sessions' office. I explained what our goal was in detail. Mr. Hixon will be meeting with the FCC soon regarding the AT&T/T-Mobile merger soon and will find out what conditions are being placed on the merger, if any.
It should be noted that Mr. Hixon told me that Comcast originally put the condition of low-cost internet access on the table before the merger was approved.
More to come soon.
It should be noted that Mr. Hixon told me that Comcast originally put the condition of low-cost internet access on the table before the merger was approved.
More to come soon.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Rep. Bachus Called Back
Philip Swartzsager from Rep. Spencer Bachus' office called me back and asked for more information. He was given the address for this blog and indicated that he would call me back once he had done all of his research.
(Updated 8/26/11 to add Rep. Bachus' staff member's last name)
(Updated 8/26/11 to add Rep. Bachus' staff member's last name)
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