a sea of change in students’ behavior. Even some of the “tougher” kids participate, she told School Transportation News, turn- ing in book reports in an ongoing contest. “Some of the kids who were not succeeding in school began
trying harder and improved their grades,” Dingler said, adding that some winners would turn in dozens of book reports to Pe- terson. “Tis summer, we’re going to get together and outline it so that other drivers can possibly use it with their kids.” As Peterson told NBC, “You see a need, and you take care of
it to the best of your ability…Terefore, I became a little bit of teacher, a little bit of tutor, a little bit of mom.” Dingler said more such programs are needed as school bus
routes become even lengthier. “Routes were cut, and that’s why other routes are longer now.
Some buses in the north have gotten WiFi on buses so the students can use their laptops on board,” Dingler continued. “Teaching them to be productive on a bus starts in these elementary runs.”
EXPANDING LEARNING TIME Charlie Hood, American School Bus Council member and
president of NASDPTS, emphasized that these types of programs help students to learn, allow drivers to focus on safety and give parents “more faith and trust” in the school bus environment. “Te ASBC is trying to get more people to recognize that school
77193_5430-01_7x4.875_STN 6/3/08 2:32 PM Page 1
buses are not an ancillary service but an integral part of education. Tese drivers are proactively going out there and starting read- ing programs right on their buses,” Hood said. “What we can and should do is to make use of available grant funding for these types of programs.” Tat is the route taken by Dr. Julie Hudson, along with husband
Dr. Billy Hudson, to expand the Aspirnaut Initiative across Arkansas and into Tennessee and Kentucky. In 2007, the Hudsons donated WiFi equipment, iPods and laptops to create mobile classrooms for Sheridan School District in Sheridan, Ark., Billy’s hometown. School bus commutes there had doubled, requiring many rural students to spend up to three hours on the school bus daily. “[Billy] felt it was such a waste of time…If students used even
a half hour on the bus each way, then that would recapture 20 percent of their learning time overall,” Julie said, noting that As- pirnaut focuses on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) content because of their backgrounds. Billy is a professor in Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine and she is a physi- cian at the Medical Center. Currently, Julie is busy applying for more grants in an effort to
reach elementary students. “When you realize you can have real-time Internet access, that
just opens up a whole other world of possibilities,” she continued. “Te school bus is a one-room schoolhouse, right?” ■
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28 School Transportation News Magazine August 2010 ©2008 Carrier Corporation
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