KEY POINTS:
Three Devonport schools fear they will miss out on a high-speed internet service that others on the North Shore will get through a Government-sponsored scheme.
Stanley Bay, Vauxhall and Hauraki Schools, with a total of 1000 pupils, are calling for a review of plans that leave them out of the fast broadband education and access loop.
Devonport School fought its exclusion and now stands a chance of being connected to a 38km fibre optic spine being installed across the city to serve 51 schools as well as libraries and council offices.
A joint-venture of the city council and Vector Communications won a $4.6 million grant from the Ministry of Economic Development to install the network.
But the money has nearly been spent, said council economic development manager Roger Matthews.
The aim was to connect the greatest number of students for the least cost. This made the most of the money by focusing on the secondary schools and including primary schools nearest to the network.
Devonport School was near to the network on Victoria Rd in the Devonport business area but $47,000 had to be found for extra work by splitting the cost between the community board and the council.
Several kilometres from the network, Stanley Bay principal Glen Vinton said wireless connection was at times frustratingly slow despite the school being in line of sight with the Sky Tower communication hub across the harbour.
Stanley Bay, Vauxhall and Hauraki would be the only schools on the peninsula unable to take advantage of the project and the schools were calling for a review.
They belonged to the Devonport cluster of schools, which the Ministry of Education was encouraging to work together to achieve higher standards of teaching and learning practices.
She said communication and sharing of data through the intranet was vital to the success of that aim and to less expensive professional development.
Mr Matthews said the schools' chances of being included were "not high" because long links through residential areas would be expensive.
He said the Government grant was about $2 million less than the amount applied for but design work on full coverage indicated a greater amount was needed.
Full coverage would require more money from sources including the Government, the council and sponsorships.
