School buses have been repurposed to deliver wifi hotspots for pupils studying from home.

Creativity truly blooms in a crisis. As the saying goes "necessity is the mother of invention", and boy have a lot of recent problems been solved both creatively and quickly as the entire world rearranged their lives to avoid spreading COVID-9 further.

So as schools shut down across the United States, they had an issue with children who lacked wifi at home. How will they be able to participate in online studies? When the kids can't download their assignments, as public spaces with WiFi is closed, such as libraries, how do we solve the issue?

Repurpose the school buses. They are no longer taking children to school, so now they can take the school to the kids. 

Belleville Township High School District 201, located outside St. Louis, is deploying four school buses equipped with WiFi to serve as Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the community. Drivers park the buses next to seven different parks scattered throughout the community and Belleville’s downtown YMCA, depending on the day of the week, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. every Monday through Friday. 

“People can just pull up, come up and download the information they need for the day and then go,” said BTHS District 201 Assistant Superintendent Brian Mentzer to Illinois public media. 

The idea is as simple as it is smart, and Illinois is not the only state that has school districts doing this. All across the United States school districts are joining in. Richmond County School System in Augusta GA are doing it, South Carolina rolled out their first Wifi-buses this Monday, and districts all over the US are working on their Wifibuses. 

Creatives. Our jobs have always been about solving problems. This is a great example of problem-solving. Are there any issues near you that you can help solve today?