“It enables us to consider the possibilities,” Scott Schweizer says. He’s talking about a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, which Alamosa School District landed to set up the technology infrastructure for a real-time distance learning system.
The beneficiaries will be Alamosa High School and Ortega Middle School students and their peers in Fort Garland, Antonito and Moffat. The USDA grant for $711,000 will help pay for a joint venture between Alamosa School District, South Conejos, Sierra Grande and Moffat school districts. The funding comes through the USDA Distance Learning & Telemedicine grant program, which is open to rural areas with populations 20,000 or fewer.
This is great. This is breaking new ground. This is opening up new possibilities.
Scott Schweizer
“Rural districts like ours face ongoing challenges related to geography, limited funding, staffing shortages and access to specialized instruction and student support services. These conditions restrict student access to advanced coursework, career and technical education, professional development for staff and healthcare services, including mental health support,” says Schweizer, chief information officer for the Alamosa School District.
“This grant allows the district to address these challenges by leveraging federal funds to expand access without requiring excessive travel or unsustainable local expenditures. Expand student learning opportunities, access to advanced dual enrollment coursework, virtual field trips. Live interactive professional development without travel. This will make that much nicer.”
Think TED Talks and the idea that students in Alamosa, Antonito, Fort Garland and Moffat will be able to participate in such dynamic learning settings once the technological system is set up and the academic minds of the school districts begin to imagine all the uses. Or training to complete Career and Technical Education certification courses or provide tele-health support for students.
The learning possibilities, once the system is set up, are endless.
“Interactive classroom displays, high-quality video conferencing cameras, network infrastructure upgrades to support that equipment, equipment for large instruction spaces such as auditoriums, limited virtual reality tools for immersive learning experiences, and installation, training, and multi-year equipment warranties. That’s what’s in there,” says Schweizer of the grant and the work ahead.
“Who benefits?” he asks. The 1,873 rural students and educators of the four school districts who will participate through the distance-learning system Schweizer sets up.
Each school district has a 15 percent match. For Alamosa, the largest of the school districts and administrator of the grant, the cost is $78,000. Schweizer is using money from his department’s annual operating budget to cover Alamosa’s required match. South Conejos has a match of $6,500 to participate; Sierra Grande, $4,300; and Moffat Schools, $17,400.
School budgets operate on a fiscal calendar of July 1 to June 30, allowing the districts to fund their share of the costs over two budget cycles, 2025-2026 and 2026-2027.
Gobins Inc. has pledged $1,000 for the project as the local business sponsor. Having Gobins as a participating local supporter helped Alamosa Schools land the competitive USDA grant.
“From a school district perspective, we needed to modernize our classrooms. This is a way to modernize our classrooms,” says Schweizer.
Each school district will be set up with the technology on their ends to participate.
“We’re very thankful for the USDA. This is great. This is breaking new ground. This is opening up new possibilities.”