Over 1,000 students struggle to connect to virtual classroom in Edgecombe County

With schools turning to remote learning, access to the Internet has never been more critical.

Edgecombe County has 6,000 students, but school officials said 1,000 of them have little or no Internet service.

They have their Chromebooks, passwords and their kitchen table as a desktop.

The one thing Nini'lmah Hinnant’s four children, ages 6 to 14, are lacking is a good connection.

They live on the east side of Rocky Mount. All they have is Hinnant's cellphone hot spot, which is spotty.

"It connects the two Chromebooks, but then it goes slow and it skips," said Hinnant.

So, her children are not able to join their live online classes.

Hinnant is out of work and can't afford a home internet connection.

"I ain't asking for money or nothing. I just need a hot spot. They could just give me one, and let them all just run off one little hot spot," she said.

Hinnant said a staff member at her daughter's middle school told her to go to a restaurant or library.

On the first day of classes, she loaded her four kids into her minivan and drove to the library to use its connection. The family stayed three hours in the parking lot, but Hinnant explained she can't do that all day, every day.

"I did try to do something, rather than not do nothing," she said.

Edgecombe County Public Schools spokesman Susan Hoke said relief is coming for the 1,000 students with weak or no internet.

She said the county has about 20 school buses with Wi-Fi devices onboard. The school system is assessing where to park buses and will also send hot spots to households in need.

Until then, she explained parents can go to their children's schools to receive flash drives with lessons, along with paper assignments.

Hinnant said that's helpful, but her kids need to connect with their teachers.

"You know, I'd rather a teacher teach me, like when I was in school. I don't want to have to sit back here and figure it out myself."

Edgecombe County school officials said they expect to have the Wi-Fi buses deployed in the next week.

They said parents should let their schools know if they have any connection problems. Their goal is to have all students connected.