It was still early in the COVID-19 pandemic when Governor Doug Burgum and Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler called the first press conference.

As of that Friday, March 13th, North Dakota only had one confirmed case of the novel coronavirus. Baesler and Burgum announced that schools would remain open, and provided administrators with guidelines to make the best decisions for their individual districts. 

But the situation progressed dramatically over the weekend, and on Sunday, Governor Burgum ordered schools to close for the week. Teaching staff entered their schools for what would be the last time of the year to plan for remote learning—just in case. And on Thursday afternoon, the Executive Order was made: all North Dakota school buildings would be closed to students, indefinitely.

“Thus began the saga of, how do we ensure that our students don’t stop learning just because our school buildings are closed?” said Superintendent Baesler. 

The Executive Order issued by Governor Burgum that day included a stipulation that in order for schools to receive funding, they must submit a distance learning plan to be approved by the Department of Public Instruction. 

“In those plans, we saw a heavy emphasis on technology—not only the platforms of communication between teachers and students, but also the delivery of actual learning mechanisms of math, reading, and writing lessons,” Superintendent Baesler said. “And that led us to be a little bit concerned about whether our students were going to be connected, whether they would have access to that technology.” 

In March 2020, school districts across the country were faced with the same question. Teachers scrambled to make plans to continue providing meaningful instruction for the remainder of the school year. News reports showed images of students gathered, six feet apart, in their schools’ parking lots just so they could access the Internet to complete their assignments. 

But amidst the chaos, one unexpected state was able to transition to distance learning almost seamlessly. More than 99 percent of North Dakota students, over 120,000, were connected to the internet in a matter of days—all thanks to a spirit of collaboration, an investment in broadband infrastructure, and the legendary North Dakota work ethic. 

Staying Safe by Staying Connected

For 21st century students, access to the Internet isn’t just a luxury—it’s a necessity. Today’s teachers rely on high-speed broadband connections to communicate with students, deliver assessments, and most importantly, help students become informed global citizens. Tools like virtual field trips and online pen-pal assignments keep students connected to their increasingly globalized world.

“It is absolutely essential for our students to have broadband access because the world is so big right now and they are so connected to it,” Superintendent Baesler said. “They can’t take a field trip to China, or to the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, but things happening in those countries are impacting their daily lives. So it’s important that they learn about them as they become global citizens, and that is only possible through the Internet.”

The Internet became even more critical for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, it was teachers’ only form of communication with students. And because social distancing plays such a vital role in preventing the spread of the virus, it also became a means of keeping teachers, students, and their families safe.

In order to ensure that all North Dakota students could participate in online school during the pandemic, districts first needed to understand where the need for Internet access lay. Working with local broadband providers and the North Dakota Information Technology department, Baesler’s team learned that student addresses were not protected information and could therefore be used to determine whether or not they had access to broadband. By overlaying student addresses with broadband customer addresses, they learned that a majority of students, approximately 70 percent, already had robust broadband access within their homes. 

Next, it was a matter of delivering broadband to that last 30 percent—and quickly. Realizing the importance of keeping students connected during the pandemic, the 15 rural broadband providers that form the Broadband Association of North Dakota (BAND) went to work immediately. 

“Virtually all of the areas had fiber running by those home addresses,” said David Crothers, Executive Director of BAND. “It was just a matter of getting the equipment in the door and hooked up for those students in unconnected homes. So we were able to do that very, very quickly. And that’s how we ended up with over 2,100 students online who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to participate in their education.”

Almost 25 years ago, the member companies that form BAND joined together to create the Dakota Carrier Network (DCN) in order to invest in a fiber backbone that spans the entire state. Those companies knew that they could get farther together, and so far, they have laid more than 42,000 miles of fiber across the state of North Dakota. 

Because of that existing fiber infrastructure, a process that normally would have taken months was completed in just days. When the pandemic hit, North Dakota schools did not need to build a new system to get broadband to students; instead, they were able to dedicate their energy to deploying a system that was already in place.

“We had that infrastructure, that symbiotic relationship before COVID-19 ever hit. And so we were able to join up as one and funnel all this traffic onto that network,” Crothers said. “We were fully prepared to go, but that’s a debt of gratitude that we owe to the directors and management of these local companies that were doing it a quarter of a century ago. And it’s worked out just perfectly for us and the people in North Dakota.” 

A Heritage of Innovation

In just three weeks, 99.8 percent of students in territories served by BAND member companies were connected to the Internet and able to continue with their school year—a number virtually unheard of across the country. 

When colleagues from around the country ask Superintendent Baesler how North Dakota managed to connect so many students, so quickly, she looks back to our state’s heritage. When pioneers first settled in North Dakota, living few and far between, they needed electricity to survive. They didn’t wait for a large electrical company from across the country to provide them with electricity; they banded together, formed cooperatives, and did it for themselves. The same can be said for telephone lines, and today, broadband.

“They brought that communication to our farmers and ranchers across the state. I think that is the heritage that has brought us to 99.8 connectivity,” Superintendent Baesler said. “That’s the partnership that we have with BAND and their member companies. They don’t wait around for someone else to solve problems for their customers, for their members. And for most importantly, they solve that problem before the problem even really gets bad.”

By working together and drawing on this pioneering spirit of North Dakotans past, the 15 member companies that form the Broadband Association of North Dakota, Dakota Carrier Network, and school districts across the state set an example of the possibilities of distance learning. Most importantly, they proved that no student should fall behind in school due to lack of Internet access—even in the midst of a pandemic.

“COVID-19 has created a dramatic illustration of the importance of having a reliable, affordable, excellent broadband connection, anywhere that you live in the state of North Dakota,” Crothers said. “It’s really brought to bear how important a functional state-of-the-art broadband network is, not just for those who can afford it, not just for those in the largest cities, but to every resident.”

Teachers using video conferencing to educate their students. Companies closing doors, their employees relying on home Internet to perform their jobs. Healthcare providers utilizing telehealth to care for their patients. All of us depending on broadband to stay in touch with our loved ones.

COVID-19 has changed the way we work, learn, and live—not just for a few months, but for the foreseeable future. And when it became clear that the pandemic would not spare our state, the 18 member organizations that compose the Broadband Association of North Dakota (BAND) knew that they had a responsibility: to keep customers connected.

This March, more than 700 service providers across the country, including many of our own, signed the Federal Communication Commission’s “Keep Americans Connected” pledge. They agreed to not terminate service to any residential or small business customers through May because of their inability to pay their bills, and to waive any late fees that they may incur because of economic circumstances related to the coronavirus pandemic.

But BAND organizations went above and beyond the FCC’s call. From laying fiber past their service territories to doubling speeds at no cost, rural broadband providers have stepped up in incredible ways to ensure that their customers have the connectivity they need to serve their communities and adapt to this new normal. 

BEK + Bison Booties

Bison Booties was born out of what Erica Hager calls a “happy accident.” In October 2010, the longtime hobby quilter was experiencing the universal struggle of new parents: nothing would stay on her squirmy baby’s feet. With the chill of an impending North Dakota winter on the wind, Erica set her sewing machine and a box of scrap fabric on a folding table in her unfinished basement and got to work. After a few failed attempts, the first pair of Bison Booties—soft-soled baby shoes that stay on even the kickiest feet—was born.

“My daughter wore them and they were great,” Erica said. “I realized that maybe if I like them this much, my friends that were having babies might also like them.”

Fast forward almost a decade, and Bison Booties is a thriving e-commerce business and Erica’s full-time job. That unfinished basement is now her studio, where she designs and creates batches of 400 pairs at a time, selling them on a website that she has designed and maintains herself. 

Erica’s business ships around the world and has been featured by publications like Martha Stewart Living and Country Living Magazine. She has expanded her product offerings to include onesies, sunglasses, and adult booties. And when COVID-19 hit North Dakota this spring, she added yet another product to her inventory.

“During the pandemic, I was able to serve the community by making cloth face covers,” Erica said. “It’s hard to pivot a business, and it was difficult to pivot mine, but there are a few things that made it easier. One, I already sew with fabric, so that part was very natural. The second was that I had a way of quickly getting these face covers out to the people that need them.”

In order to meet the rising demand for face covers and get them to her customers as quickly as possible, Erica depended on high-speed, dependable broadband from local Broadband Association of North Dakota (BAND) member, BEK Communications Cooperative.

“Bison Booties has been able to keep our family and our community safe, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without the high-speed service that we have from BEK,” Erica said. “If I had any doubt in my mind that the Internet might not work tomorrow, or it might not be fast enough for me to upload these photos [of my products], it would have slowed that system so greatly. I don’t know that it would have been worth it to make them.”

Erica knows from experience the toll that poor Internet connectivity can take on an e-commerce business. In the early days of Bison Booties, the only way Erica could access the Internet was via a satellite on the roof of her home. It was unreliable at its best, and nonexistent at its worst.  Her connection would frequently time out as she tried to upload new photos to her website. When it was rainy or snowy, too hot or too cold, her Internet would go down completely, meaning she could not fill and ship orders on time. When she couldn’t take it anymore, Erica called BEK. 

While Erica’s home was technically outside of BEK’s service area, BEK CEO Derrick Bulawa negotiated with Erica and the two decided on a nominal fee to allow BEK to lay fiber to her home. 

“It’s amazing to see a lady with that kind of energy and excitement given the right access to technology, how she can just flourish,” Derrick said. “She went out of her way and figured out how to manufacture these masks and sell and distribute them over the Internet to hundreds and hundreds of people. She’s protecting the community, and we feel like we’re an important part of that.” 

DCN + Starion Bank

Just a few miles east of Bison Booties headquarters, Starion Bank was also grappling with how to care for their community in the midst of a pandemic. 

The family-owned bank, based in Bismarck, has 16 branches and thousands of customers across North Dakota and Wisconsin. And in early March, they suddenly had more than 200 employees needing to work from home. 

“We started discussing what impacts COVID might have on our business, and within the next week or so we started making decisions on closing branches, sending people home to work,” said Kevin Valleroy, IT Manager and VP at Starion Bank. “And one of the things that we recognized is that, with the number of people working from home, we could potentially need some more internet bandwidth.” 

Kevin worried that the sudden influx of teammates accessing Starion’s network from home would lead to a bottleneck, preventing them from providing their customers with the service they needed when they needed it. Starion reached out to their BAND member, Dakota Carrier Network (DCN), to see if they could help ease the transition.

Starion Bank and DCN have a longstanding relationship rooted in collaboration and innovation. Founded in 1996, DCN is owned by 14 independent rural broadband companies (all of which are also BAND members) and was created to help support the local broadband companies and statewide enterprises. When Starion became DCN’s first commercial customer in 1997, the only way the bank could communicate with its more rural branches in Oakes and Ellendale was through copper lines laid by DCN owners. 

And as technology has evolved, so has the relationship between these two growing companies. Over the past six years, DCN and its member owners have connected every single one of Starion’s 16 branches, even as far as Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, to their extensive fiber optic backbone.

As they have so many times in the past, DCN stepped up this spring to ensure that their customer, and their customer’s customers, stayed connected. 

“At DCN, our main priority is keeping our customers connected,” said Seth Arndorfer, CEO of DCN. “During COVID-19. that connection has been more important than ever before.”

In less than a week, DCN was able to increase Starion’s Internet speed from 200Mbps to 500Mbps—so that neither employees nor customers would experience congestion due to the pandemic.

“Just imagine how frustrating it would have been to be in an isolation or a quarantine environment and not have the connectivity,” Seth said. “Starion’s financial viability would have been impacted, their ability to service their customers would have been impacted, and the ability of their employees’ students to receive a quality education during the COVID pandemic would have all been impacted very greatly.”

This increase in speed has allowed Starion employees to work safely from home for the duration of the pandemic and provide their customers with the quality of service they have come to expect. Most importantly, it has given them peace of mind.

“With our COVID response, we had a lot of other things going on that we had to worry about,” Kevins said. “And with DCN providing the extra bandwidth, we didn’t have to worry about that. It just gives us a little bit more comfort level and security on not having issues with the number of people working from home.” 

Working Together — The North Dakota Way

As the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented demand for broadband across our state, the 18 member organizations that form BAND have all stepped up in unprecedented ways to support their customers. 

While there remain more questions than answers about the future of the virus, one thing remains certain. As North Dakotans, we will continue to work together to bring education to students wherever they are, support businesses as they move online, and to empower the people of North Dakota to do what they do best: innovate and collaborate.

“We’ve done it for centuries here in North Dakota, whether it’s getting over a harsh winter, or the original farmers and ranchers that worked to form these cooperatives to install the first lines of communication across the state,” Seth said. “That’s how we got through COVID-19, is by working together.”