A broadband project that will include Selma and most of the Black Belt received mixed reviews during Tuesday’s work session of the Selma City School Board.

While most agreed the project would benefit the schools by providing high speed internet, board president Henry Hicks said he is concerned the schools could also take on an added expense.

Selma City Schools interim superintendent Gerald Shirley said there are many positives at first glance.

“This project, when completed, will increase the internet capabilities for Dallas County homes,” he said. “It includes eight rural counties in Alabama, and Dallas County is included. It will impact education because it will bring access and connectivity to colleges and universities.”

The project, A2D Inc. representative Brian Watkins said, is the product of a $59 million grant as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The grant is supplemented by $26 million from private investors and must be completed by August of 2013.

A2D Inc. provided the $26 million.

“Really, at the end of the day, what it is intended to do is connect unserved and underserved areas of rural America,” Watkins said. “The focal point is anchor institutions, which are government buildings, schools, libraries, hospital and healthcare facilities. The goal is to connect those institutions with a high capacity, next generation communications infrastructure to allow for growth and development and spur job creation.”

Selma schools would serve as anchor points in the project.

Watkins said the school system will be connected to other academic institutions and homes that are also connected to the network, which allows for community-based services like distance learning programs from colleges and universities through a secure connection.

Schools could receive these programs, Watkins said, without even going on the World Wide Web. Trillion Communications of Bessemer would oversee the program’s implementation along with the South Central Alabama Broadband Commission. The grant covers the fiber connection to the schools.

Though the grant will cover the installation of the fiber optics, Hicks said he is concerned there could be costs to the schools from an IT perspective.

“I’m just curious to know how this would work with our existing system,” he said.

Without knowing the inner workings of the system, Watkins said it is hard to say if there would be an added expense.

“Once the connection gets to the outside of the building, if there are any additional internal components that would be required to make sure that connection was facilitated throughout the building, there could be additional costs,” he said. “We won’t know that until we do those internal assessments. There’s a solid chance in preliminary discussions there could be some components there we are already capable of working out.”

The board will hold an official vote during a regular meeting.