The darkest nights produce the brightest stars. With COVID-19 gripping at the United States, we’re still facing some dark nights. But as a nation, we will overcome.

We must take a second and find those brightest stars because there is where inspiration is found.

The Warren County School District is facing a challenge. A challenge of how to educate 4,000 students who are at home, and have limited to no access to high-speed Internet.

A packet of materials can be mailed, but it’s not the same as face-to-face interaction with a highly-skilled trained educator.

Something that can be possible with a simple connection to high-speed Internet and video lessons. But there are simply students in the WCSD who do not have access to that.

The state of Pennsylvania in 1993 trusted Verizon’s processor Bell to fix the problem. In return, Bell was freed from the restrictions of rate-of-return regulations. Basically, they were allowed to charge higher phone rates.

High-speed Internet was defined as 1.544 Mbps downstream and 128kbps upstream.

We think this is the brightest star moment.

It’s time for the Governor and State of Pennsylvania to fix this issue.

High-speed Internet needs to be available to everyone living in rural Warren County. Everyone. It’s going to cost money — probably lots of money. Phone lines have been allowed to become dilapidated in many areas. The infrastructure of high-speed Internet is just not there.

It’s 2020, and if this pandemic has shown us anything, it’s shown us we need to be able to deliver to all of the residents in Warren County — all residents everywhere — not just some.