GREENVILLE, S.C. — Greenville County school buses are going high tech, according to WYFF 4.
A total of 115 school buses servicing Greenville County School were equipped with Wi-Fi over spring break, but by the 2017-2018 school year, all 425 buses will have Wi-Fi.
District employees worked over spring break to put Wi-Fi onto all Greenville County school buses.
This is all part of a $3 million grant that was designed to equip all school buses with Wi-Fi statewide.
Only eight counties applied for the grant, so Greenville County Schools were able to do all of their buses in a shorter period.
The project costs just over $1.2 million and will serve 26,108 school bus riders.
It’s designed so that students can get homework done on bus rides to and from school.
“‘A students’ bus ride can be anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes. Some of the longer ones, 90 minutes. The average drive time is about 42 minutes,” David Poag, routing coordinator for Greenville County Schools, told WYFF News 4’s Allyson Powell Tuesday.
The WiFi will work on the same filters and protection as the wifi in classrooms.
“We can monitor right down to the individual student to make sure they’re using it appropriately,” Bill Brown, executive director of education technology services said.
All buses have a telephone number displayed on the bus that riders and bus drivers can call if technical assistance is needed.
Henry Lear, a Southside High School student and bus rider, helped lobby for the project.
