Attending school at a fast-food spot: 12 million US students lack internet a year into pandemic

There are estimated 12 million students who, according to a recent analysis, lack internet service or make do with a patchwork of short-term fixes to participate in remote learning. Their issues are regionally specific, from a lack of broadband in the isolated reaches of Appalachia to worn-out and obsolete devices distributed to poor families on Chicago’s South Side. But the heartache and exhaustion are universal. The federal government is addressing the divide with $7 billion schools can use for internet hotspots and devices, part of the pandemic relief bill President Joe Biden signed. The issues, however, aren’t just technological. As schools continue to reopen this spring, they will confront the pandemic’s legacy of lost learning, one that has disproportionately affected students of color and those from low-income families.