Franklin County Schools to Receive Wi-Fi Rangers

Franklin County is one of 35 school districts in the state that will be receiving WI-FI rangers from AT&T.

In a press release Tuesday, Governor Kemp announced the donation from AT&T to the Georgia Department of Education, Foundation for Public Education.

The donation will be used to deploy 448 Wi-Fi Rangers to 36 school districts, filling the internet connectivity gap for thousands of students in rural areas, and tripling the number of Wi-Fi buses in the state.

Each school district will create its own mobilization plans for placing the Wi-Fi Rangers on school buses or other public vehicles to reach the highest numbers of unserved students in their communities.

Franklin County School Superintendent Chris Forrer said with this school year almost over, the devices will likely be put into use next school year.

“Truthfully, they haven’t even shipped yet so I’m not sure how they’re going to play into our instruction this year,” he said. “By the time we get them and into the buses and tested this school year will probably be over but we’ll definitely be using them down the line. However, I’m extremely grateful to the Governor’s office for doing this, but they will probably fit a lot more into our plans for next year than this year.”

Each Wi-Fi Ranger can enable internet connections for up to 45 devices at one time.

All 36 school systems chosen are located in rural Georgia, and system selection was based on factors which included poverty level of the school population, the student-to-device ratio in a school’s existing technology inventory, and the school’s status on either the Comprehensive Support and Improvement or Targeted Support and Improvement lists.

AT&T’s donation also includes two free months of service for each device.

However, additional grant funding was applied to extend the impact of the initiative to an additional three months of service for each device for a total of five months free service.

Other area school districts receiving WI-FI Rangers include the Madison and Jackson County school districts.