million will be awarded to the state department of education in response to COVID-19 challenges, with $10 million set aside for equipping all 8,300 route school buses across the state with internet service to address student remote learning needs. Chad Carpenter, state director of transportation at the Alabama De- partment of Education, said school districts must apply for the funds. From information he gathered as of this report, districts will also be reimbursed the money they spent on purchasing Wi-Fi solutions since schools shut down on March 13. Meanwhile, California State
Superintendent Tony Thurmond has also been vocal in promoting education equity, especially as 42 of the state’s counties at this writing were required to begin the school year under a full online learning model because of a high number of COVID-19 infections.
Thurmond announced last month
a collaboration with Apple and T-Mobile to connect students in need. But no information on how school buses will aid in this goal has been discussed at this report. However, during a virtual press conference in April, Thurmond responded to a question posed by School Transportation News that the California Department of Education encourages school districts to ex- plore school bus Wi-Fi as a solution. Yet some school districts na-
tionwide are not on board with the technology. A recent STN survey indicates transportation officials are deterred by the upfront cost of equipment and recurring data plans as well as data secuirty concerns and innapporiate browsing by students. Some chool districts already using the technogoly for long-distance trips realized it wasn’t a good fit for remote classes.
Top 3 Reasons to install Wi-Fi routers: 52%More homework time 28%Long route times
26% Other (athletic trips, lack of Wi-Fi for all students, students requested it.)
According to 54 readers responding to a recent survey. Mutliple answers allowed.
For instance, Fresno Unified School District in California, which is starting virtually, currently has 62 of its 106 school buses equipped with Wi-Fi. The district made the decision years ago to give students that were riding the school bus more time to work on school assignments. Vanessa Ramirez, a public informa-
tion officer for the district, shared that the buses will not be used to com- plement distance learning. Instead, some students such as those who are homeless or in foster care are receiv- ing mobile hotspots to take home. “During [the] school closure, at the
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40 School Transportation News • SEPTEMBER 2020
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