Somerset County educators say lack of internet causes problems

According to the Somerset County board of education anywhere between 66 and 75 percent of county residents have no access to high speed internet.
Which provides a lot challenges for students according to education officials. 

The biggest hurdle may be with PARCC testing, the state mandated assessment taken online during school hours.  

Superintendent Dr. John Gaddis says in places like Deal Island sometimes the connection is so weak that the test will freeze or time out.  

Gaddis said those conditions are to students and that the  state may not have considered places like the Eastern Shore or Western Maryland when they decided to go to an online test for the state assessment.

“They may think, they being the state and the people making these decisions, that we can just flip a switch and we’ve got internet everywhere. It does not happen that way,” Gaddis said. 

Plans are already in motion for Deal Island. Gaddis said county commissioners are working with Comcast to put a point to point tower up to improve internet connection and speeds.

However, Gaddis said even that is a bandaid solution for the bigger problem.  

He says the lack of internet connection also complicates sending students home with online assignments.

Ultimately he said he would like the state government to listen more to the Eastern Shore delegation in the Maryland General Assembly and take the Eastern Shore’s needs into account before they make statewide decisions.