Wi-fi up and running on some school busses thanks to tech. grant
Wi-fi is spreading at Tracy Area High School, which was among 12 school districts that were chosen to receive state funding that will provide its students with high-speed Internet.
The grants were announced Thursday. Because of a cap in funding, only a dozen applications were chosen among 33 school districts. Eleven of the school districts are in Greater Minnesota. District 2904 which will receive $30,620 (the school district applied for $32,925) in grant money, is the only district from southwest Minnesota — and one of only two in the southern third of the state (Shakopee) — to make the cut.
The Tracy Area Education Foundation donated $2,000, MinnWest bank committed to a $600/per year donation for the next three years and Ralco donated $500.
Under the school’s 1:1 technology initiative, all students in grades 7 to 12 have their own laptops (seventh- and eighth-graders must leave theirs at school at all times). Another part of the technology expansion is wi-fi on select buses.
Tracy Area High School Superintendent Chad Anderson said the school district has started the process of installing wireless access points on busses. The school hopes to have 10 of them ready to go with wireless access soon, perhaps yet this month. Part of the reasoning behind pursing the grant is the lengthy bus rides some kids have to deal with today. According to the school district’s grant application, the longest ride is 89 minutes.
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.