Originally published on March 4, 2021 5:53 am
The COVID-19 pandemic has spotlighted an issue that Ohio’s rural communities have been struggling with for years: the lack of adequate broadband service. It’s particularly affected education in parts of the state like Ashtabula County. Some parents say their kids have fallen behind simply because they can’t get online from home.
At the mercy of bandwidth
Jennifer Jerman is a single mom of four. She says Ashtabula Area City Schools provided her kids with Chromebooks when the pandemic hit last year, but they’re at the mercy of internet bandwidth that can’t handle the load at home. So, her kids had to use their phones for school.