(continued from page 7 - Joy Whiting, Apache County School Superintenent) Apache County Broadband Project, which would bring the necessary funding for infrastructure on major projects to provide fiber to the homes of Apache County students and their families. The main focus of her Administration for this first term is increasing the access of students to the internet. Apache County is extremely rural, and nowhere is that more evident than on the Navajo Nation. Apache County has the largest geographical area of the Navajo Nation within its boundaries. The students living on the Navajo Nation have been at an extreme disadvantage during this pandemic with very little or no connectivity at home in order to adequately participate in distance learning. The Apache County Consortium uses miles of fiber from the northernmost part of the County at Red Mesa School District in the Red Valley/Cove area running south near Ganado through the Sanders School District then towards McNary. The Consortium has just been awarded more E-Rate dollars in order to finish a fiber project to the very small and rural Alpine Elementary School District and Alpine Library. With a very special thank you to Milan Eaton, our state E-Rate Director, this fiber project will hopefully be completed by next year. With this much fiber to the schools, Joy is hoping to work with great carriers, to leverage more money in order to complete middle and final mile infrastructure projects to bring “Stronger Together!” Page 8 fiber to the homes. This is an expensive and complicated process, but with help of our local school districts, state and federal officials, and the personnel from the coal fired plants of SRP and TEP, she hopes to reach the goal of completing this Apache County Broadband Project. The attention Apache County needs to obtain this has come from our state broadband leaders like Jeff Sabotka, which has been crucial to the implementation of the project. The Apache County Business Consortium, which currently operates under the school superintendent’s office, is undergoing a new phase as well, as it transitions to a non-profit status to better serve the Apache County schools. Joy says she sends another big thank you to Tim Carter, Yavapai County School Superintendent, and the example he has set in serving Yavapai County’s needs, as he has been the leader in creating this type of IT non-profit consortium. With the help of Milan Eaton and Peter Lin (from Pinal County) moving the Apache County IT consortium to this model has been doable. Technology is second nature to students, and teachers need to have access to use technology in the classroom. Infrastructure to make sure schools have high speed internet in order to implement technology in their teaching strategies is not easy, but important. The low density of homes in Apache County makes the cost of laying fiber even more expensive, and attracting carriers willing to take on these projects is another big hurdle. One way to help offset issues of cost is to create a nonprofit IT school group, in
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