Ellicottville School District has roughly 640 students. Of those, about 30%–nearly 200 students–don’t have reliable internet access. That’s twice the national average, but on-par for Cattaraugus County–which has the least internet access in New York State. District Superintendent Bob Miller said that connectivity is a major concern as the district pursues a hybrid learning model in the fall.
“We do have a number of families that have neither internet service nor cell phone service, which makes it a tremendous challenge for those kids to do things digitally,” said Miller.