The Greene County board of education enhanced the schools 1:1 technology initiative by approving the addition of wifi to two activity buses. The board approved the purchase of routers and initial connection fees at a total cost of $1,400, as well as $150 per month for a US Cellular data plan.
Board members first talked about wifi capacity on the buses when they looked at bus bids a few months ago. The quotes from bus vendors were very high, but superintendent Tim Christensen, technology director Tim Buenz, and transportation director Wayne Hougham did some research and found that retrofitting buses is not cost prohibitive.
This is the second year all students at the high school have had school-owned Chromebooks to use, and much of their class work requires them. With wifi on the buses, students will be able to do school work while traveling to sports or music events. “It makes a lot of sense, since we’ve got the kids all on Chromebooks,” board member Jeff Lamoureux said.
Christensen assured the board there will not be capacity for students to watch Netflix on the bus. Smartphones, however, will be able to use the bus network rather than roaming for data.
The techsmart buses will be ready for the upcoming track season.
According to technology director Tim Buenz, Carroll Community Schools has already outfitted six buses with wifi and Glidden-Ralston has installed it on two. Buenz and transportation director Wayne Hougham visited Carroll t
