School Bus Fleet, February 2021

30 SCHOOL BUS FLEET FEBRUARY 2021 WWW SCHOOLBUSFLEET COM WI FI TIPS Since the start of the pandemic almost a year ago the need for providing accessible and reliable internet connectivity to students has been pushed into the spotlight As schools have shifted course to allow more flexibility for online learning many school districts transportation departments have sought to equip most if not all of their school buses with Wi Fi Along the way some Wi Fi suppliers and school district officials have noted best practices for ensuring continuous connectivity during the pandemic and even afterward when students return to in person learning Here they share those tips with School Bus Fleet 1 ASSESS THE NEED FOR ACCESS One of the most important steps in deploying Wi Fi on the yellow bus suppliers say is finding out how many students actually need internet access and what neighborhoods those students live in From there the transportation department can make informed decisions on where those buses should be stationed in the community and or what routes the buses should be assigned to Edward Dubose the transportation director for Choctaw County Ala Schools says at the start of the 2020 21 school year his district sent out packets to students and their families informing them about the districts plans to install AngelTraxs Wi Fi Hotspot Package on 32 of its regular route buses The packet also included a survey to find out how many students would be participating in virtual learning at that time When we have in person and virtual learning students this is one of the reasons why we want to have internet services on all of our buses Dubose says We are located in a rural area and we need to see how many students are in need and where exactly 2 CHOOSE IDEAL HOTSPOT LOCATIONS When parking Wi Fi enabled school buses in the community Richie Howard president and CEO of AngelTrax says school districts should select centralized locations people are familiar with and feel safe at One example of this he says is stationing a school bus in a local parking lot that allows families to stay inside their cars for social distancing purposes while still being able to access the network Other examples of prime hotspot locations include shopping malls apartment complexes and mobile home communities 3 SET UP CONTENT FILTERS All mobile connectivity solutions used by school districts should have content filtering abilities that meet the standards of the Childrens Internet Protection Act CIPA according to Jacqueline Leclerc marketing communications manager for school bus at Safe Fleet another Wi Fi provider CIPA compliant solutions can help establish a peace of mind for districts and parents as they are able to 5 Tips for Delivering School Bus Wi Fi During the Pandemic As many school districts use buses as mobile hotspots in communities where a significant number of students are without reliable connectivity suppliers and school district officials share best practices for optimal service delivery By Sadiah Thompson Assistant Editor Photo courtesy Kajeet