Case Study: ISD 181

Serving nearly 6,500 students annually in Cass, Crow Wing and Morrison Counties, the Brainerd School District’s need for internet is critical to say the least.

In the early 2000s, a group of business leaders from the Brainerd Lakes Area recognized the region’s technological shortcomings and began meeting to address them. Their discussions revolved around assessing the current state of technology, anticipating future needs, and developing strategies to stay competitive in an evolving tech landscape. As former ISD 181 Superintendent Jerry Walseth recalled, “We found out we weren’t positioned very well in the Brainerd Lakes Area.”

In late 2001, the Brainerd School District Board proposed a levy to the community. This levy aimed to fund the construction of a new middle school, refurbish the high school and other elementary schools, and support technology upgrades within the district. A crucial component of the technology plan was ensuring all schools had high-speed internet access.

In early 2002, the community narrowly approved the levy, leading to a request for proposals from technology companies to establish a fiber network connecting all district schools. Walseth emphasized the desire for a partnership and a maintenance agreement with the selected technology company.

At that time, Kevin Larson, CEO of CTC, engaged with Walseth to understand the district’s goals. CTC responded to the proposal and thus began a unique partnership. CTC laid 30-40 miles of fiber optic cabling, agreeing to maintain it long-term. This meant that if road construction or other factors necessitated moving the fiber, CTC would handle it.

Walseth highlighted the community benefits: “One of the greatest spin-offs from the standpoint of the community is we went from this technological ‘black hole’ of not really having a lot of technology available to our community both in intellectual capacity as well as hardware capacity, to now developing this fiber network through our community which has brought a plethora of technology literate people into the community and has provided a wonderful resource for us, which is now a strength versus a weakness in this community.”

Fast forward to 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, students were sent home to engage in distance learning—a new challenge for both educators and telecom providers. It became evident that many students lacked reliable internet access, and some were unable to afford internet service due to financial limitations within their families.

CTC worked closely with the school district to identify students without home internet access and extended fiber lines to those within our service areas to support their educational needs – at no charge to the customer.

Additionally, CTC set up several public WiFi hotspots throughout our service area. These hotspots provided essential connectivity, enabling numerous students to complete their schoolwork and participate in distance learning classes during the pandemic.

As we look ahead to the future, we can ascertain that our partnership with ISD 181 will continue to remain strong and prosperous but also grow in new and meaningful ways. Our shared commitment to excellence and innovation has already brought significant positive change, and as we move forward, we are eager to explore new avenues of collaboration. In fact, CTC recently just converted over 800+ phones throughout 12 schools to a new model. This was no easy feat, and took a lot of manpower, time, and teamwork.

Our partnership with ISD 181 is more than just a collaboration—it is a testament to what can be achieved when two organizations come together with a shared vision and purpose.

ISD 181 Director of Technology, Ryan Schultz, said “It is always a pleasure to work on any project with the CTC team. They are always smiling and super helpful.”