CESA grant to upgrade distance learning labs

The Abbotsford and Colby school districts will be getting upgraded distance learning facilities thanks to a grant provided through CESA 10 in Chippewa Falls.

CESA 10’s Distance Learning Service has been awarded a (USDA) Distance Learning (DLT) grant for their 2020 Distance Learning Project - Achieving Wisconsin Equity (AWE). The $1 million grant award will combine with $150,150 in school districts’ cash match to invest more than $1.15 million in distance learning endpoints and infrastructure for 39 school districts in rural Wisconsin.

The grant award will serve to fund two primary purposes. First, school district video conferencing equipment will be updated and refreshed, expanding educational opportunities and improving endpoint reliability and security. Second, CESA 10’s video conferencing backbone and infrastructure will be replaced with the most current technologies, improving reliability, security and service to their member districts.

CESA 10’s AWE project will address three needs in exceptionally rural Wisconsin school districts: a lack of educational opportunities for students, a lack of trained teachers, and a prevalence of substance use and mental health disorders and the subsequent lack of access to education and treatment.

AWE will leverage existing, well established partnerships between CESA 10, school districts, institutions of higher education and mental health care providers, while also expanding connections to local county health departments and law enforcement.

The outcomes of AWE will impact more than 10,000 high school students and 2,100 PK-12 teachers in the region.

For more than 20 years, CESA 10’s Distance Learning Service has supported the connections and collaborations of their rural Wisconsin consortium member school districts to educate students.

In the 2019-20 school year, the service supported more than 2,800 student enrollments in distance learning courses.