Alabama students are parking their work stations in new locations.
Twenty-five Escambia County buses are providing a Wi-Fi hotspot service for students to connect to the internet. These special buses have a 100 to 300-foot range for Wi-Fi connection. This means students can find a bus and do their homework on remote learning days. The goal is to alleviate some stress in the lives of struggling families in the county.
Forest Jones is the Transportation Supervisor and said the community has helped a lot in this effort.
“It allows us to be able to put access at a known location, a safe location, a location where our buses are taken care of," he said. "We try to put the hot spots out in places where we know that students live and might not have access to that service.”
Jones said the project was a necessity for this school system after the pandemic.
“Coming off the pandemic we were looking for a way to be able to provide access to Wi-Fi because we are a title one system, which means that over 40% of our students accept free and reduced lunch," he said. "Putting an access point closer to them helps.”
Students can now find internet connection at parks, fire houses and church parking lots.
