The Lincoln County School District recently ordered and installed 88 WiFi connectivity kids to provide service to each of the First Student buses used by the District. The connections have been tested and are now available to any student who wishes to use their time on the bus to do homework or be otherwise productive during their time as riders.
“We felt it was important to offer this service to our students who need access and ability to use the time they have commuting to and from school to complete assignments. This will be especially useful for our students who are traveling long distances or to games and activities,” said Sarah Monroe, LCSD Transportation Liaison, who worked on the project along with other members of the LCSD and First Student leadership team.
The investment cost the District $91,480.40 for 12 months of connectivity. The payment came from the General Fund. The District has applied for federal Emergency Connectivity Funding to reimburse the cost. Each bus can now be used to provide mobile hotspots if needed in an emergency or other situations. The LCSD is awaiting approval for their reimbursement request at this time.
SmartBus WiFi services are hosted by Kajeet with the dual connection of AT&T and Verizon networks. This will allow the WiFi connection to automatically switch to the provider that has the best coverage as the bus travels throughout the county. There are filter and access settings in place that are compliant and can be further managed by the LCSD technology department. The password is “smartbus” for all buses.
Dustin Hankins, a parent of a student at Taft, is pleased with this announcement, “With today’s mounting pressure on student-athletes to keep grades up, to be punctual after returning home later and later from games, keeping kids connected is of utmost importance. With WiFi on the busses, student-athletes will be able to continue their studying whilst traveling. Therefore reducing the time needed to be connected at home after travel which in turn allows more time for the student to rest, recharge and be not only on time the next morning but be fully engaged and on time the day after the competition.”
In addition to our newly launched bus WiFi for students, a great existing resource for parents or guardians of bus riders is the First View Parent App for GPS tracking and notifications of a student’s bus service. Detailed information is available on our website at https://lincoln.k12.or.us/resources/family/bus/firstview/ and security codes can be obtained from the office of the student’s school.
