Remote Schooling Out of Reach for Many Students in West Virginia Without Internet

Much of southern West Virginia had already been struggling with a drug epidemic and persistent poverty before the coronavirus pandemic took hold here. Now, as students return to school online, the region is coming up against another longstanding challenge: a lack of broadband internet access. Providing service in sparsely populated areas is typically more costly and less profitable than in suburbs and cities. In Appalachia, the terrain has made it difficult to install and maintain the infrastructure necessary for broadband. In West Virginia, between 30% and 50% of K-12 students don’t have internet access at home, according to the state Department of Education. By the start of school, the state had set up nearly 850 Wi-Fi hot spots at schools, libraries, National Guard armories, and state parks for students. So far, nine of West Virginia’s 55 counties are teaching all classes remotely after spikes in Covid-19 cases pushed them above a threshold for new daily cases set by the state.