Fresno Unified kicks off experiment to help kids get internet access amid pandemic

Some Fresno students who don’t have internet access are about to get some help from school buses.

Two buses will be equipped with WiFi and parked outside of Kirk Elementary School in southwest Fresno, starting Wednesday, district officials announced at last week’s special board meeting.

“We chose the southwest region for our pilot because it’s really underserved in terms of the strength of WiFi in the area,” said Karin Temple, Fresno Unified’s chief operations officer.

Since schools closed across the state, there’s been efforts to make distance learning more equitable through providing internet and devices to students.

“Using our buses as ‘hot spots’ at Kirk is another way we are trying to overcome that digital divide and give all our students the internet access they need to be successful,” Superintendent Bob Nelson said in news release.

“Small groups of students, practicing social distancing and wearing masks, can sit on the grass in the shade and work on their tablets or laptops,” district officials said in a statement. “While the district is not mandating students complete academic work since schools closed, they are encouraging students to keep learning and are providing new lessons every week.”

One out of four households in Fresno County has no internet access, an estimated 73,600 homes. The majority of those homes are low-income, and in rural areas, the U.S Census Bureau data show.

Fresno Unified has been passing out WiFi hot spots, tablets, and laptops to students, but some families still have yet to hear from their schools how to get one.

In Fresno, students who live on the west side could have a harder time learning online because the internet isn’t as reliable.

“For our African American students, we see a lot of issues that continue to create an educational divide for them,” Trustee Veva Islas said during the meeting. “Even where our cell towers are accessible creates a disadvantage for our families and students that are on the west side, where we have the largest concentration of African American students.”

Students will not be on the buses but can access WiFi from outside, Fresno Unified spokesperson Vanessa Ramirez said in an email.

Temple said there would be someone from the district there supervising to make sure students are keeping safe distances from each other. There will also be signs on the outside of the buses that explain how students can receive IT help.

After six or eight devices are connected to the WiFi, the signal will begin to slow, Temple said, but “that’s why it’s a pilot.”

“We want to do whatever we can to provide WiFi access, and if we have more demand, then we have strength, for we can always add buses,” Temple said.

Buses will be parked outside of Kirk Elementary, 2000 E. Belgravia Ave., from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and May 26 to the 29.

Temple said this new program wouldn’t have any impact on the budget because the district’s bus drivers are already available to work. The district intends to expand this service to schools in the southeast side of Fresno, where there are also weaker WiFi connections.

Fresno Unified isn’t the only school district to try innovative approaches to give students WiFi access, while distance learning is a new reality. A school district in Austin, TX rolled out 110 buses in April to neighborhoods and apartments where internet access is lower, Austin’s NPR station reported.

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This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 10:38 AM.