Alaska's Bering Strait School District - GCI SchoolAccess Enhanced Internet Service

Area: over 50,000 square miles
Total Population: Approximately 5,375
Number of Schools: 15
Number of Students: 1,753
Smallest School: 50 students
Largest School: 200 students

The Bering Strait School District (BSSD) extends along the coast of the Bering Sea, encompassing a series of small villages in an area larger than the entire state of Minnesota. Many of the district's fifteen schools have limited accessibly throughout the year. The schools' remote locations present unique challenges for teachers and students to access quality curriculum materials and instruction.

With SchoolAccess Enhanced Internet Service (EIS), GCI provides BSSD with education-focused features that set it apart from all other services. SchoolAccess EIS includes communications hardware, software, a 24x7 help desk, training, and upgrades. SchoolAccess EIS also provides the district with e-mail for students, teachers and administrators; Web site creation tools and hosting; network optimization; security features; and specialized tools like Internet content filtering to help schools comply with new federal laws.

The technology has resulted in dramatic benefits to BSSD, allowing the district to level the playing field between the urban and rural divide, providing rural students with the same opportunities as students in cities across the country and around the world. The entire school district is now connected to a single district-wide network. Every school enjoys high speed Internet access with minimal congestion. Each of BSSD's 1,753 students has access to broadband, along with an individual e-mail address.

Students use the Internet for research and to keep current on events. Secondary school students can also use the Internet to study for the ACT and SAT exams, and apply for higher education and financial aid. Online programs allow them to create their schedules online and investigate and decide on their majors. SchoolAccess EIS can also filter Web sites deemed inappropriate by the school district so educators never need to worry about the content that students access online.

Teachers collaborate with one another through e-mail about lesson plans and useful Web sites they have found. They also actively involve students in class activities while developing their students' skills and familiarity with technology. SchoolAccess EIS allows teachers to communicate with parents through e-mail, sending progress reports and report cards electronically.

Administrators share information easily and electronically, sending important documents and curriculum information as e-mail attachments instead of by regular mail, which has to be flown from school to school, often delayed by precarious winter weather. Visitors to the BSSD Web site can access school calendars, permission slips and forms, staff contact lists and other administrative materials at any time, saving staff time and effort. Because many small schools lack the technical resources or time to maintain and administer a full suite of telecommunications equipment and services on a day-to-day basis, GCI functions as an extension of the school's technology team.

SchoolAccess EIS enables the creation, development, and hosting of local web pages for educational purposes. It also allows BSSD to share information about their area with people in other parts of the world. For example, the BSSD Web site has a moveable webcam on the Iditarod Trail in White Mountain. Users can control the movement of the camera from their computers to see different parts of the view, including the river, the community, and the school.

Without ever having to leave their small villages, students and teachers in BSSD are benefiting from the knowledge of one another and the rest of the world because of the advances of GCI's SchoolAccess Enhanced Internet Service (EIS).