Wisconsin's rural school districts face major barriers to keeping learning going through coronavirus closures: namely, internet access

THREE LAKES - There's no such thing as a "typical day" for the Olkowski family in the months since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools across Wisconsin and turned life as they knew it upside down.

Diana Olkowski now works from home Tuesdays through Fridays, juggling meetings and other job duties with caring for and teaching her two school-age sons, Charles and Warren in second and first grade, as well as her youngest, Wade, who's preparing for 4-year-old kindergarten in the fall.

There's only one constant in their daily schedule, Olkowski said: About 11 a.m. every weekday, a bright yellow Three Lakes school bus, driven by the same driver her husband had growing up, stops outside.

The boys crowd around the window or doorway as Janele Dupuis, a paraprofessional at Three Lakes Elementary School, hops out and drops off lunch and breakfast in a cooler placed at the end of the driveway.

Every couple of weeks, Dupuis also delivers printed packets and other learning materials like books and Scholastic news — the Olkowski children's primary source of instruction during the closures.

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These days, that's the main method of connecting with their small, rural school district in the heart of the Northwoods, which serves about 500 students across an expanse of 305 miles.

"They love waving to them and just seeing their faces," Olkowski said. "I can't talk enough about it. (The food and homework delivery) has made my life as a mother, teacher and employee so much easier."

Three Lakes' delivery program is just one way school districts in sparsely populated corners of Wisconsin are finding creative ways to provide education, meals and other critical social services that families rely on.

While more affluent, largely suburban, districts have been able to shift to e-learning, small, rural districts like Three Lakes need to overcome the challenges of sprawling geography and a lack of reliable, or even available, high-speed internet service.

According to a 2019 Pew Research Center study, about 63% of rural Americans have broadband internet at home — 12 percentage points lower than those who live in urban areas and 16 points lower than in suburban areas. That disparity, which can be much more stark, is often referred to as the digital divide.

And even rural areas that have internet are more likely to report slow speeds and spotty connections because substantial parts of rural America still lack the infrastructure needed, according to the study.

Without the speed broadband provides, key technology for e-education like video conferencing and streaming can be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Adults in rural areas are also less likely to own smartphones, tablets or a computer, and are far less likely to own multiple devices, according to the study.

At the same time, rural schools also struggle to provide meals to economically disadvantaged students when districts can encompass hundreds of square miles. Pick-up points at set times each day may not work if families don't have reliable transportation or time for a long trip.

The solutions to the problems vary. Some districts, in the name of equity, have gone strictly to paper and pencil instruction. For Wi-Fi access, others bought mobile hot spot devices to loan out as a quick fix for families in need. Others use a mix of instructional strategies to fill holes as needed.

Establishing e-learning in Kewaunee County is difficult, but not impossible

Few, if any, counties in Wisconsin are in as difficult a situation for online schooling as Kewaunee County. A 2018 study by Microsoft showed just 7% of its residents had broadband access, one of the lowest rates in the state.

The county has worked on improving broadband access since 2016. It was awarded a $960,000 grant in March from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin for that purpose and is working on a $2.3 million project with Bug Tussel Wireless of Green Bay to improve broadband accessibility, covering 199 businesses and 12,115 residences.

But with those improvements still in planning stages, the state's order to close schools on March 16 left Kewaunee County's three school districts scrambling to find ways for their students to take classes remotely.

The superintendents of the three districts all said the transition to virtual classrooms has gone relatively well, although each had varying issues with families' high-speed accessibility. In separate interviews, each superintendent estimated about 60% of their students live in some sort of populated area while 40% are in more remote, rural areas. 

According to a district before school closures began, of the Kewaunee School District's 962 students, 51 had no internet access, and 103 reported spotty service, Superintendent Karen Treml said.

A grant from the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation's Emergency Relief Fund allowed the district to buy 45 Wi-Fi hot spot cards to help with access. It also handed out 250 Chromebooks to students, one per family, through its Computers on Wheels  program.

Kewaunee students with no or limited internet are getting assignment packets on paper. Treml said one alternative for these students is to take a cellphone picture of their homework and send it to their teachers by text or email.

Treml said teachers and staff are trying to stay in touch with students and families to make sure things are going as smoothly as possible under difficult circumstances. With some parents working from home with multiple children taking classes, Treml said one of the big priorities is keeping reasonable workloads in the households.

"We're trying to reach out to families as often as works for them, without overwhelming them," Treml said. "Absolutely, it's difficult. I'm not going to lie and say it's been the easiest transition ever. That said, I believe the teaching staff has risen to the challenge."

The Luxemburg-Casco district has about 1,900 students. Based on surveys it conducted before the closure, it bought and distributed 500 Wi-Fi hot spots. Nonetheless, some students still receive paper assignment packets, Superintendent Glenn Schlender said.

Schlender noted that broadband issues extend beyond just accessibility — multiple users in families with students and working parents can stretch usable bandwidth to the breaking point.

"What we're trying to do is be as accommodating as possible in terms of assignment completion," Schlender said. "Our mantra has been, we don't want the kids held accountable for things outside their control."

Schlender said a recent survey of Luxemburg-Casco High School students and families, after about a month of online classes, showed almost 90% think the new system is working well. That doesn't mean he's satisfied.

"Generally speaking, I'm very proud of what's happening," Schlender said. "But it also bothers me that families are in stress. I'm impressed with how the district is responding, but that doesn't diminish the 10-15% having difficulties."

Turning away from digital learning

Other districts, like the Clintonville Public School District, have chosen to focus on providing pencil-and-paper instruction only as a way of ensuring all students are treated equitably.

Nestled among the hills, woods and farm fields of northeastern Waupaca County, the district serves nearly 1,300 students, according to data from the state Department of Public Instruction.

According to Microsoft's 2018 study, nearly 70% of Waupaca County residents lack broadband access at home.

"We were really concerned with the equity piece of this," Superintendent David Dyb said. "And ultimately what we decided is we just have too many families that don't have internet access."

Although the district provides Chromebooks to all students in grades five through 12, Dyb estimates up to 30% of families lack reliable internet access, either because they  can't afford it or live in rural areas with significant dead spots. Over half of the district's students receive free and reduced lunch services.

Often, Dyb said, he hears that students rely on their parents' cellphones to create hot spots to complete school work and that staff, too, don't have internet access at home.

Since the schools closed last month, Clintonville teachers have gathered content for learning packets that paraprofessionals print and assemble to be either mailed out or picked up by parents at school during set times.

In addition, a week's worth of meals are available for pick up or home delivery every Wednesday.

The packets are made up of worksheets and learning activities, the main purpose being to review and enhance existing skills and previously covered material.

Additional learning materials are available to families who are interested and can access the district website, Dyb said.

Dyb said he believes it's most important to focus on kids' mental health.

Something that could improve students' well-being? Giving students a reason to turn their eyes away from screens and put down their devices for a few hours every day to do schoolwork, Dyb said.

"During this unprecedented era, the kids are going to remember far more how they felt and the reflections that took place. That's going to stick with them much longer than any academic learning that takes place," he said. "And maybe a little pencil and paper instruction is a good break from the gaming and social media."

Despite barriers, some schools press on with virtual instruction

Despite concerns about internet access and reliability, some rural school districts have gone virtual as much as possible, while also offering alternative learning for those who can't participate. 

At the Washington Island School District, in northern Door County, students use many online platforms, including Google Hangout, Google Meet, Zoom, Seesaw and more, to "see" staff in real time during regular check-ins and individual and small-group tutoring sessions on a daily and weekly basis.

According to Microsoft, 70% of Door County residents don't have access to broadband. But Washington Island School District, the state's smallest district with about 70 students, provided hot-spot devices to students as needed to fill gaps.

"We are hopeful that this allows the district to maintain the educational success that was afforded to our students throughout this final quarter of the school year," Washington Island principal Michelle Kanipes said.

In the Shawano School District, which serves about 2,400 students across 189 square miles in northeastern Wisconsin, middle and high school students use Google Classroom to complete the majority of their schooling — though not a lot of video conferencing — while younger students are relying on learning packets and other resources sent by teachers via email, said Kelley Strike, director of curriculum, assessment and instruction.

Although nearly 80% of Shawano County residents don't have access to broadband, according to the Microsoft study, Strike said the district based its learning plan on the results of a poll distributed to district parents and staff.

The survey didn't get full participation, but more than 90% of families and staff members who responded had home internet and 65% have broadband, Strike said.

However, only about 70% viewed their internet connection as "reliable," and just 60% said their connection could handle video streaming.

To combat those difficulties, the district offers a learning packet alternative for middle and high school students with poor or no internet connection, Strike said, and district staff limit the use of videos and video conferencing. Instead, teachers predominantly communicate in other ways, either via messaging on Google Classroom, email or phone.

If teachers do choose to use video, Strike said they must provide an alternative for those who are unable to view it.

Strike acknowledges the district can't provide the same level of instruction to students amid the closures, but she echoed Dyb's concern about meeting students' mental health needs.

"Our primary focus right now is safety of students, both physically and socially and emotionally," Strike said. "We're still providing opportunities for learning to continue, but understanding that we need to be flexible in unprecedented times and understanding that families are going through some unusual situations."

Distance, poverty can be an obstacle, too

The Three Lakes School District has taken a similar approach to Shawano in that grades 7-12 have virtual learning through the Canvas learning management system, while the younger students use a variety of learning approaches, including printed packets, workbooks and online resources for those who are able to access it.

Internet accessibility isn't as big of an issue for Three Lakes. The majority of Oneida County residents — 60% — do, in fact, have access to broadband, according to Microsoft.

Superintendent Teri Maney said the district was easily able to narrow down the handful of families who lacked any access, and provided those in need with hot spot devices that were previously on the district's eight school buses.

It's not a perfect solution — Maney is the first to admit that internet service can be spotty and isn't particularly dependable — but they've made it work.

To meet the district's families' other needs, it turned to the school bus delivery service.

The program ensures that all children, even those who don't attend in the district yet, get meals in a geographically sprawling district where 40% of students receive free or reduced-price lunches.

But it also was created as a way to ensure that bus drivers — the "backbone" of a community in which students often spend hours commuting to and from school each week — would remain employed and, hopefully, return next school year if they could no longer work this year.

Five days a week, the drivers and paraprofessionals are responsible for delivering 630 meals daily, Maney said.

Another perk of the deliveries: Continuing to interact with families, even in small ways — like waves from afar, inspiring messages written on bananas in the lunches and handwritten notes from staff members.

In the Olkowski family's case, one delivery even included a pair of glasses that a boy had left at school just before the closures started.

"We want to keep that constant connection, even if it's not inside the building itself," Maney said. "I'm told by many of the kids and parents that it's like the highlight of the day."

Anne Eppler, who has three kids attending in the district — a fourth-grader, sixth-grader and high school sophomore — feels the district is doing a good job keeping learning going.

She said the district sent all three home with what they needed to get started after the schools closed. Since then, her two oldest children have shifted to doing more work online, while her fourth-grader mostly works with pencil and paper.

The family lives along a state highway just outside of Three Lakes and, for the most part, doesn't encounter significant issues with their internet connection.

"If everyone's using it at the same time or someone's watching a video, we have a bit more difficulty," Eppler said. "But I know we have it pretty good compared with what I've heard from friends who live out in the woods or on side roads."

Eppler said she and her family are grateful for what the school has provided during difficult times — especially the deliveries.

Eppler's two youngest children often argue over who gets to grab the food from the end of the driveway, she said with a laugh.

"It's a fun contact with the outside world and the school," she said.

Chistopher Clough and Sammy Gibbons of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Samantha West at 920-996-7207 or swest@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @BySamanthaWest.