Buffalo, N.Y. (Investigativepost.org) - It’s a problem that was meant to have been solved months ago, at least for two impoverished Buffalo neighborhoods.
Lack of reliable internet access in low-income households puts thousands of Buffalo public school students at an educational disadvantage. So last summer the school district hired a local IT company with a troubling track record to provide free, fast Wi-Fi to approximately 5,500 students on the city’s East and West Sides.
But the project hasn’t been completed. In fact, the work has barely started.
From the beginning, there were warning signs that the company, HarpData, might not deliver on its promises. "When the company was bidding for the project last Spring, they were being sued by a partner for failure to deliver services in a big contract with Kaleida and ECMC," said Kelly. "The school district has decided that they are in with HarpData and they're going to give them a chance to deliver the project. But even if they manage to implement the project, it won't be ready until Summer School at best, or next Fall. Too late to help students and teachers who are struggling now with online learning at home.
Read the FULL story by Geoff Kelly at the nonprofit investigative reporting center investigativepost.org.