There are so many reasons to be jealous of kids these days and now I can add one more reason. You see as a kid growing up in Northern California, I had an hour ride to and from school every morning. My brother Arik and I were the first kids on the bus and the last to be let off. Needless to say, I think I read almost every ‘Hardy Boys” book available and became quite the music connoisseur, thanks to my tape-playing walkman. Boy have times changed, if only I had grown up in Vail, Arizona…and just a few years later (why date myself?).
Here southeast of Tucson, some students heading to Vail schools ride over two hours a day on the school bus… “enough to make anyone go stir-crazy” according one administrator as he chats with our producer Ron Ralston.
However, the kids of Empire High School in rural Vail, Arizona have a whole new reason to stay quiet on one of the big yellows….they are kids in the first district in the country to put WiFi on the bus. Yep, students here have been issued laptops to pass the time as they travel through desolate landscape on their way to school and bus number 93, which now has that WiFi hook-up, allows students to log on and complete homework assignments….even surf the net, or connect with classmates and family.
The original plan here in Vail was to help students work on the bus, the unintended consequence….students actually do homework, listen to music and surf the net and they don’t horse around. Don’t worry, the internet speed isn’t fast enough or wide enough to stream video, but that might be a good thing. As bus driver JJ Johnson tells us, “There’s less moving around in the bus while it’s moving while some students may sit next to each other to see what they’re doing on the computer… they’re not punching each other.”
As I spoke with driver ‘Jet’ of bus 93 this morning she tells me, “It was a fantastic day. The kids were quiet and working and I didn’t even know they were there!”
The school district says the WiFi has also helped for athletes traveling to more remote games that might be up to 3 hours away each way. In the past the bus might leave at noon for example and kids miss half the day, but now they can do the work and stay in touch with teachers while on the way to the game and as Matt Federoff of the Vail District says, “They’re stuck on the bus 186 days, two hours a day and after a while anybody would go a little stir crazy so the academic benefit, that’s what we wanted, the disciplinary benefit, that was a bonus.”
Kids can also go to community sites and have some fun, which again keeps them occupied, especially on those longer bus rides. The system only costs a couple hundred dollars per bus and about $50 a month for the service, so it is cost affective and the best way to measure….the students themselves.
One student tells us, “It’s actually made a really huge difference because last year I felt like a lot more rushed than I do this year like I have a lot more time knowing I can do stuff on the bus. Another Jerod Reyes adds, “Now you can get your homework done, you can go on the internet, do what you have to do, and then if you WANT to you can talk to your friends.”
So…if commuters can find them on trains and ferries and even airplanes….why not load up on the bus?