School buses deliver internet hot spots in NM
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. – For the past week, school buses have been moving out into some remote parts of southern Doña Ana County, New Mexico, and parking for an hour during weekdays. However, they are not picking up passengers.
Instead, the buses are equipped with hot spots in a trial program by the Gadsden Independent School District to bring more internet connectivity to its students.
The rolling hot spots are parking at locations within the communities of
Anapra, Berino, Chamberino and Chaparral from 11:30 a.m to 12:30 p.m., with residents welcome to drive up and use the Wifi signal for downloading schoolwork and checking email.
The communities are in some of the areas the district has identified where students do not have internet accounts or experience slow or unreliable connectivity.
Since March, New Mexico’s public schools have been physically closed due to the public health emergency posed by the coronavirus outbreak.
The school year continued via remote learning, with a heavy reliance on digital platforms even though many parts of the state, and rural areas in particular, suffer gaps in internet connectivity.
Per U.S. census data, 614,000 New Mexico households had broadband internet subscriptions in 2018: 77% of households statewide, and well below the national average of 85% that year.
District Superintendent Travis Dempsey said 2,200 out of 13,000 households in his district have no internet access at all.
“We still had families that were having a hard time getting that far, so we’ve taken four buses that are mobile hot spots, and we parked them in the most remote areas of the district,” Dempsey said. “It’s something we’re playing with to see if that’s another good tool to use to provide some access to people.”