The Monroe County School District wide area network became fully operational in October of 1997.

The District began with Internet access and e-mail for Becker Elementary School, Hamilton, Hatley and Smithville K-12 Schools and the Monroe Vocational and Technical Centers in all classrooms and administrative offices by the fall of 1997. District and School Technology Committees were formed and worked together to plan the future of technology in the district.

The Mississippi Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology released the Technology Enhancement Funds in the fall of 1996 and spring of 1997. This was the very first educational technology grant the district received to build their school local area networks and district wide area network. Soon "NetDay" activities began in which parents and other volunteers began pulling network cabling to every classroom in the district. Local school network hubs and servers were installed on each campus. Monroe County's first District Technology Plan was developed by these committees and sent to MDE.

The District received the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund Grant during the 1997-98 school year. This grant assisted the district in bringing computers to the classroom and training to the faculty. Teachers were excited about using technology in their classrooms to enhance their instructional methods!

The District received the Tech Prep Initiative at Hamilton, Hatley and Smithville Attendance Centers and Tech Prep courses were fully implemented by the 1999-2000 school year. Also that year, construction began on the new Technology Centers on each K-12 campus.

The District then received the Goals 2000 Grant during the spring of 1999 and received the Goals 2000 Grant for a second year in the spring of 2000. This two year grant assisted the district in placing additional computers in the classroom and brought the Accelerated Reader program to the elementary schools.

In the 2001-2002 school year the District received the School Technology Renovation Grant. This grant assisted the district in the upgrade of their local area networks that connected all classrooms to the Internet.

The District received the E2T2 Formula Grants during the school years of 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010. This multiyear grant award was used for more computer equipment purchases and educational technology staff development.

The District received the Gilmore Foundation Grant in the summer of 2006 for the new Advanced Learning Center project. This grant assisted the district in implementing a wide variety of technology at the ALC. Mobile laptop carts and interactive white boards were installed in each classroom. Some of the district's first wireless access points were also installed in this new Advanced Learning Center.

The District received the Redesigning Education for the 21st Century Workforce Grant (Phase I) in the 2008-2009 school year. The first year brought the current technology courses to Hamilton, Hatley and Smithville Schools. ICT I and STEM courses and their required labs for grades seven and nine were installed in new Technology Centers. Also, Career Centers were established on each of those campuses.

The District received the Redesigning Education for the 21st Century Workforce Grant (Phase II) in the 2009-2010 school year. In year two, ICT II was added to this program for eighth graders and those labs were installed. The redesign of multiple courses for the Monroe Vocational Center were also implemented.

From school years 2010-2011 to 2019-2020, grant funding was difficult to access. Support for technology in the district came from Federal Programs for student devices and "smartboards", local district budgeting for teacher computers and the E-Rate program for network and broadband support.

But in the 2020-2021 school year (one of the most difficult years for all of us due to the pandemic), the district received some of the largest educational technology funding grants ever awarded. There were three main grant sources provided to assist districts with a one-to-one initiatives and network wireless infrastructure upgrades. The ESSER technology grant, EDLA technology grant funding and the MS Pandemic Response Broadband Availability Act (also known as HB1788) grant provided the district with the opportunity to upgrade the district's entire network infrastructure to include replacing all network switches, wireless access points and fiber optic cabling at all five school locations. In addition, Chromebooks were purchased for every K-12 student and Chromebooks and Windows laptops were purchased for the classroom teachers.