High-tech school bus extends learning

Students in the woodsy, working-class Hector School District in Arkansas now can look at more than the Ozark National Forest in the two-plus hours they spend on the school bus each day.

The Pope County district is participating in a new program for rural schools believed to be the first of its kind: It’s playing math and science content over ceiling-mounted computer screens during the lengthy bus rides. “To say we are rural is an understatement,” Superintendent Karen Cushman said, noting that more than 60 percent of the 600-student district is located in the Ozark National Forest and that 75 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The district is working with Vanderbilt University’s Aspirnaut Program to turn the bus into a mobile classroom of sorts. The program, founded by Arkansas native Billy Hudson, works with rural schools in Arkansas and Maine to help educate students in science, technology, engineering, and math.