School districts deploy buses as Wi-Fi hotspots to support remote learning: report

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School buses are increasingly being tapped as rolling Wi-Fi hotspots amid the continuing pandemic.

With school districts forced to rethink the classroom experience, administrators have adopted some creative solutions for the hurdles students face, particularly those from low-income families.

Districts have increasingly embraced virtual classrooms in some form – be it exclusively or in a hybrid set-up with students rotating between at-home and in-person learning.

But not all students can afford remote learning, which requires a strong internet connection and a laptop. And while students can buy the latter, families have limited control over the quality of their internet service. Some experts have cautioned that remote learning might actually widen the gap between wealthy and poorer students.

In the initial phase of school closures in the spring, some schools experimented with using buses as Wi-Fi hotspots. Fox News reported in April that Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona did that with about two dozen buses at empty lots around the community. Students could use the limited-access Wi-Fi to check assignments and touch base with teachers.

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"I think it has positioned us well to continue to provide education to a community that needs it the most, quite frankly," Steve Holmes, the Sunnyside superintendent, told AZ Central at the time.

Other communities have explored the option. Schools in Austin, Texas deployed 110 buses with Wi-Fi to neighborhoods identified with the highest need for internet access, KSAT News 12 reported, and Charleston, South Carolina has provided internet-equipped buses while also boosting its campus signal to reach nearby homes.

Educators in South Bend, Indiana also jumped on the idea, deploying 22 buses in the spring.

Now, as students start the fall term, South Bend’s public schools have increased that number, sending 35 buses into the community to support families that have poor access, ABC News reported.  The buses stand outside apartment complexes, school buildings and parks.

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Rene Sanchez, assistant superintendent for operations in South Bend, said the idea of Wi-Fi buses was being considered before the pandemic as part of a plan to help students with long commute times. The pilot program included only 10 buses.

"We ordered as many more devices as we could," Sanchez said. "Now we're providing devices for pre-K all the way through [grade] 12."

Sanchez estimates that roughly 30% of families in the district do not have home access to broadband internet.

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"We were doing it because we knew we had a need," he said. "We didn't know that we were going to have this level of need, but because we planned ahead -- and took into account that idea of equitable access -- then we were prepared."