Pandemic closed NC schools. Now some buses will have Wi-Fi so students can go online.
More North Carolina students will soon be able to go online to do their schoolwork using parked school buses equipped to provide Internet access.
AT&T, Google and Duke Energy Foundation are providing 280 Wi-Fi hotspot devices that can be installed on school buses to help with how schools have switched to remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic. The first set of 156 devices was delivered this week to school districts in 29 counties.
“In many communities, school buses are already delivering meals to students and their families,” Governor Roy Cooper said in a news release Wednesday. “Now they’re delivering Wi-Fi for online learning.”
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the extent of the state’s digital divide now that the 1.5 million public school students need to learn online for the rest of the school year.
The state Department of Information Technology’s Broadband Infrastructure Office identified counties with the most households unserved and underserved by high-speed internet. DIT worked with the state Department of Public Instruction to determine where school bus Wi-Fi hot spots can be most useful.
The 156 hotspot devices went to schools in Avery, Bertie, Bladen, Burke, Caswell, Chowan, Columbus, Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gaston, Gates, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Johnston, Martin, Montgomery, Northampton, Perquimans, Person, Randolph (includes Asheboro City Schools), Robeson, Sampson (includes Clinton City Schools), Scotland, Tyrrell, Vance, Wayne, Warren and Yadkin counties.
The buses will travel to underserved areas and park in locations such as a school nutrition meal distribution site or a grocery store, The list of the locations, along with a map of other public Wi-Fi drive-up locations, will be available at www.ncbroadband.gov/covid19.
Students can use the bus hotspots to turn in assignments, download materials and connect with teachers. Other people can use them to connect to healthcare providers, apply for unemployment and access other information and services.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 12:33 PM.
