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Students riding busses in the Pike County Schools system now have access to free wireless internet accessibility.

The service is available on 23 of the district’s busses, said Stephanie Snyder, Technology Coordinator for the district.

Funding for the service came from CARES Act funding awarded through the governor’s office. “Our district received just over $35,000 to put Wi-fi on our busses,” she said, adding that about 75 percent of the district’s busses have the service available.

“Kids can use the Wi-fi on the bus in the morning or when they’re going home in the afternoons,” Snyder said. “And, if we should ever have to shut down again, we could can park the busses in different communities and the parents would be able to drive their children to the busses and access the Internet there.”

Snyder reassured parents that the service will protect students who are using it. “This is CIPA compliant,” she said. “They can’t access social media or streaming video sites like Netflix or Hulu. But they can access sites to help with their school work, whether on a device provided by the school or a personal device.”

In addition to the mobile access service, the district continues to work to provide Internet access options to families throughout Pike County.

Nearly 700 families took advantage of vouchers provided by the state earlier this year to provide Internet access at home through free wireless hotspots which are good through Dec. 31, 2020.

“For those families who did not use their vouchers earlier this year, we have Mi-Fi devices available now,” Snyder said. “Anyone who did not cash in their voucher earlier this year can come by the STEM building (behind the Huddle House on U.S. 231 South) next week to get a device.”

Or, anyone with questions about the devices or access may call a school system technician at 334-672-0463.