It’s hard work for the students of the Sullivan BOCES construction department. They're ripping up the floors of an old school bus.
But the group of students says the hard work is worth it. They’re turning this school bus into a mobile classroom.
They're doing it to help make remote learning a little easier for other students throughout Sullivan County who don’t have internet at home.
"It feels good that some kids who don’t have internet at home can come to school and have internet, and do their school work," said Justin Scherota, a Sullivan BOCES construction student.
What You Need To Know
- The mobile classroom can be powered using a generator, and students will be able to connect to the internet via a hotspot, or their school's high-speed internet connection
- The mobile classroom will be available for any Sullivan County school district to use
- Sullivan BOCES plans to have the mobile classroom fully operational by the end of March
In addition to efforts and funding from State Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, Sullivan BOCES partnered with Rolling V and Sullivan 180 to completely renovate a school bus into a mobile remote-learning hub.
The district says this vehicle is desperately needed. When schools first shut down last March, it exposed a critical problem in Sullivan County: Many students don’t have access to internet at home.
According to census data, Sullivan County is one of the poorest counties in the state, with around 16% of its population living below the poverty line.
"A good portion of our students in the more rural areas in the county were doing packets like we did 20 years ago in school because they had no internet connection," said Robert Dufour, the Sullivan BOCES district superintendent.
Many areas of the county lack high-speed internet access, or the cost is just too high for families to afford, and that technology gap was only amplified by the pandemic.
Although some internet providers are offering lower cost options for students during the pandemic, in some districts in the county, up to 20% of students don't have internet at home, making remote learning nearly impossible.
But this mobile classroom will provide some relief.
"Any school district in Sullivan County can reserve the bus through our communications department," said Dufour. "The bus will be delivered to the site. It can operate off of hotspots, or it can be tapped into the building's high-speed internet connection."
When the bus becomes operational, up to six students at a time can work here with enough space to socially distance. Everything inside the bus, down to its desks, are crafted by construction and welding students in the Sullivan BOCES program.
It's just one example of students helping other students to overcome obstacles.
These are Sullivan BOCES construction students. They’re hard at work ripping up the flooring in a school bus. Why are they doing this? They’re turning this bus into a mobile classroom for students throughout Sullivan County who don’t have access to internet at home. @SPECNewsHV pic.twitter.com/1y94DZAB4z
— Olivia Leach (@OliviaLeachNews) March 5, 2021