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Kanawha school buses to get internet access

Charleston Gazette-Mail photo by Christian Tyler Randolph
Charleston Gazette-Mail photo by Christian Tyler Randolph

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County Schools will begin installing routers this week on all 158 county school buses to provide wireless Internet access to students, to whom the school system has already given tablet computers.

Leah Sparks, technology director of the school system, said the Verizon routers will cost roughly $150,000, and the monthly service charge per bus will be about $40, totaling about $63,200 to provide service for all buses for 10 months each school year.

She said she hopes all the routers can be installed by the start of the spring semester; Brette Fraley, head of transportation for the school system, said they could be installed within about 30 days.

Kanawha distributed more than 14,000 iPad tablet computers to every middle and high school student in the county last school year through the roughly $14 million Learning 20/20 initiative. Students use them to complete homework and access electronic textbooks and other educational software.

Sparks said she expects the Wi-Fi Internet access to help students get work done on the buses, while simultaneously lessening their distraction of bus drivers. She said it could particularly help students on long bus routes and those involved in sports.

“Instead of waiting until 11 o’clock at night to get home and do their homework,” Sparks said, “they could be doing it on the way to the game or from the game…

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