Residents urge supervisors to invest in rural broadband

As state and local governments eye millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 Rescue Act funds, some constituents know how they would like to see the stimulus money spent — offering rural Madison County residents broadband internet access.

During the Madison County Board of Supervisors April 5 meeting, three students from rural northern Madison County came before the board to ask the county to support bringing broadband internet to their areas.

Nicholas Jackson, a senior at Velma Jackson High School, said he was addressing the board on behalf of his classmates and the community.

“As you know last year has been extremely challenging and difficult and uncertain to say the least for us and the whole world basically,” Jackson said. “In the midst of the pandemic, schools and employers were forced to make the difficult decision to work from home. For families in the north Madison County area, this was not possible. The lack of quality internet in the area has made it difficult not only for my family and several others to meet the demands of the new normal of working from home but through several conversations with peers and fellow statement holders this has become a serious topic. … I am asking on behalf of families, students and the entire north Madison County area to bring adequate internet service to our area.”

R.K. Jones, an eighth-grade honor student at Shirley D. Simmons Middle School in northeast Madison County, said he was representing his school community to appeal to the board, officials and businesses to use their influence to help bring affordable internet connectivity to northeast Madison County.

“I know the challenges and frustrations that many of my other classmates have trying to access distance or virtual learning with poor connectivity or total lack of internet services,” Jones said. “Many students have to leave home, go to the library or someone else’s home for basic internet service. We live in an age of technology, yet our homes, our families and our communities are not connected to the age we live in. As students, how can we be held accountable at the same standards with the same level of expectations as other students, schools and workforce communities, if the field of technology is not level?”

Ashlyn Thompson, who lives on U.S. 51 about 9 miles north of Canton and is a freshman at Canton Academy, said during the COVID-19 pandemic students had to work from home.

“It was very difficult,” Thompson said. “Where I live, we can only get a hotspot box that has limited data and at times it would not let me connect and go to class so I come to you this morning to ask for your assistance to help get broadband available to all of Madison County.”

Banks said he was not sure when the county would receive Rescue Act funds but would it would likely be months and any proposed items will remain a wishlist.