MANSFIELD — The Mansfield City school board of education approved the acquisition of 300 additional hotspots at its Tuesday night meeting. 

According to Holly Christie, district director of student support programs, the hotspots will be paid for with money from the BroadbandOhio Connectivity Grant. The district was awarded $110,267.37 through the state grant program.

The district had already purchased 200 mobile hotspots with CARES Act funding earlier this year. 

“We put out a survey and learned many families were without internet access,” Director of Technology Fayette Adams said in an email. “More families are requesting them as we move to more online learning.”

The hotspots come free to the district as part of a two-year service contract with T-Mobile/Sprint. The total cost will be $54,612 each year.

From the onset of the pandemic, Mansfield City Schools has been working to secure internet access for families who can’t afford it. 

Superintendent Stan Jefferson stated the hotspots are important because the district has to be able to provide different educational options for families, indicating the Tyger Digital Academy which will continue as an option after the pandemic.

“The pandemic has completely changed how we are operating educationally — not just in Mansfield, across the nation,” Jefferson said. “If we have learned anything in education since the pandemic, (it’s that) the future of education will not look the way it looked prior to COVID-19.

“The future of education will involve a high degree of technology both in person and online.”

Nearly 1,000 students are enrolled in the Tyger Digital Academy, the district’s online-only alternative to in-person classes. Meanwhile, families who chose in-person learning will still have one day of online classes after the district transitions to its four days a week plan.

The board also approved job descriptions for three new titles in the district — a coordinator of online learning, executive assistant for the Tyger Digital Academy and Title IX coordinator and an executive assistant for central registration and enrollment.

Jefferson and Director of Personnel Mark Wilcheck indicated the administration’s goal is to promote internal candidates to these positions, rather than hire additional district employees.

“Net zero (new jobs within the district) is our goal,” Wilcheck said in an email.

“Online learning has presented a set of completely new issues from a personnel point of view, from personnel to coordinating this entire project. These three positions all deal with aspects internally within the district,” Jefferson told the board.

Upon reviewing the job description for online coordinator, board member Chris Elswick asked why a principal’s license was “preferred” rather than required.

Board member Gary Feagin asked if there are tasks a staff member wouldn’t be able to perform without a principal’s license. 

Jefferson stated that not requiring a principal’s license would make the position open to a wider range of applicants, but the board ultimately decided to amend the job description to require one, since only principal license holders can complete state-required teacher evaluations.

According to Wilcheck, the starting salary for an online coordinator would be $92,040 per year. Like most administrative positions, the district would offer a three-year contract.

Jefferson said that the new positions will help make the district more efficient and relieve pressure on other staff members.

“We definitely want to make sure we are not stretching our people to the max end and right now we are stretching to the max end,” he said. “We have to take pressure off our administrators and our personnel in general.”