Thursday March 28th, 2024 9:20AM

Gainesville school officials approve bus purchases for new mobile learning labs

The Gainesville City School Board is moving forward with the purchase of three modified buses to be altered and used to bring educational materials to students during the summer.
 
Currently called Mobile Learning Labs, one bus each will be geared towards elementary, middle and high school students. Similar to the school system's Book Trunk bus, the labs will make the rounds to subdivisions, apartment complexes and the like to provide educational and literacy materials to students who may not have access to them over the summer.
 
"We have a lot, a large percentage of our students and families live in areas, complexes or subdivisions, some of those things, so our mobile learning lab wants to take some things to them, whether it's during the summer, whether it's during spring break, Christmas break, evenings or weekends," said Superintendent Jeremy Williams.
 
"Whether that's through some wi-fi supports, FAFSA applications, some other online supports, it's just a way to take what we have on the campus and take them to the homes, into the communities, so we look forward to growing that, we don't really have the details ironed out yet."
 
Williams said the board was encouraging feedback from families in the district about what they'd like to see in the Mobile Learning Labs.
 
The three labs will focus on elementary, middle and high school needs.

"That elementary parent may need something that's more literacy based, or hands-on, or manipulative-based with math and that high school parent may need to know, 'ok, let's look at filling out a college application, let's look at filling out a job application, what opportunities are there out there.' So with that wide range it would be difficult to put it all in one, so we want to target our three different grade spans," said Williams.

The board was quoted a total cost of $307,512 for the three 48-passenger Blue Bird buses. Each bus costs $102,504 and will be purchased from Yancey Bus Sales and Services. The board approved spending the money unanimously.
 
This project comes as the school system works on "The Hub," a student success center geared towards mental wellness for students and their families.
  • Associated Categories: Homepage, Local/State News
  • Associated Tags: gainesville, education, Gainesville City Schools, Gainesville City School Board, mobile learning lab
© Copyright 2024 AccessWDUN.com
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.