For a school district hurting for money, the words "irresponsible spending" seems understated

What a waste of money. The kids are on the bus for such a short while. They can live without the internet on their mobile phones for 20 minutes.

Mummy and Daddy can make sure their phones have a data plan to access cell networks. My guess is that most everyone Facebooking, Tweeting or Instagram-ing is already connected whether the bus has wi-fi or not.

With all the money problems this district is facing, wi-fi on the buses is what gets priority?

Board of Ed, pls reconsider this decision. There is absolutely no need for this 'perk'. Spend the money on higher priority issues.....like raising the test scores for our students.

We should also add big screens and surround sound while we're at it! Take out the current seats and give them lazy boy recliners. Free phones for all so no child is left behind.

Everyone is worried that an on-line school has no interaction with other students. Seems to me the district encourages this.

Maybe that's the problem with our student test scores we put sports before academics.

When I was a kid-walking to school up hill both ways with no shoes-we talked to our friends while on the bus. What is the purpose of this? Nobody does their homework RIGHT after they get out of school-this is an absolute waste of money. I cannot see the rationale behind this decision. I can certainly think of much better ways to spend this money within the district, and I am not even that in touch with District 308.

It's certainly not going to break the bank, but what an incredibly foolish move from a PR perspective.

There is absolutely NO need for this Wi-Fi!!! School Board and Administration, stop spending money foolishly. The kids aren't going to use it for school work. It's just a babysitting tool. First, save the money. If you can't help yourself and truly need to spend some money, use it to EDUCATE our kids.

how much do the tax payers pay these two morons to come up with this ? if it is such a good idea let the parents of the students who get this service pay for it? only a hand full will get to use it but all pay what a waste . what are you going to do when you really need money ask the tax payers good luck

The School board must of went to the Obama school of spend spend and spend more and just milk the taxpayers for all there needless foolish spending. I hope they do not expect a tax referendum increase anytime soon.

How about instead of putting wifi on the buses, we put a book cart so kids can READ while they ride home... why do we keep encouraging the disconnect! I'm almost positive that any wireless device they may have on the bus is already connected to a data plan! This would be a huge waste of money and one more step in the wrong direction! And we wonder why none of our kids can spell or speak in complete sentences!

As of this moment, there isn't a single voice in support of this....quite telling, isn't it?

Two comments were deleted in this thread, one for a personal attack and the second for profanity. Please feel free to repost minus the offensive language. Thanks!

Really, did you just wake up and decide to throw everybody who supports you under the bus.

This idea is so far out there! 99% of the kids on the bus have internet access on their cell phones! Why would we pay for a service that is unnecessary while making parents pay a fee to send their little ones on the bus? The buses are to transport students, not give them an extra five minutes on facebook. Many of the children that are going to be charged to ride the bus ate the same ones that used to receive bus service. Why are they walking now? Because to 'Save money' the district changed the bus routes. Spend the money on getting our children to school safely, that's far more important than updating their status.

Let me get this straight - District 308 has SO much extra money they decide to try wifi on school buses? Who in their right mind actually believes this will be effective in the learning process of students riding a bus? Certainly not a parent! Maybe in some people's mind this is a small expense, but it's the small expenses that are ignored and eventually contribute to a huge deficit. I am sick and tired of the wasteful spending! Doesn't look like the taxpayers (who pay your salaries, by the way) are in favor of "wifi-gate". Maybe the district needs to rethink this.

UNACCEPTABLE...period

Hey Wendt...here's a brilliant suggestion....NO! see? Simple and easy to understand, unlike some of the instruction our kids are getting. WiFi on all our buses is the goal? How about we skip the WiFi on the buses and concentrate on the things we need to fix, okay? If this is your idea, I seriously want to start checking your credentials...or your medications.

Seriously? This is absolutely unacceptable spending for our district. Let's redirect the funds to safety for our children and true education opportunities! What a waste and so pathetic.

School outside the building?? Sure, but this program won't be used for learning. Stop the spending. Let them READ, if they know how.

Actually "Plainfield" spending at ALL levels must be approved by the board - no checks get written to anyone for anything until the board votes to approve them. Payroll, insurance, no matter what it is, if it's $ leaving the checkbook, the board has to approve it before it gets paid for.

Our kids are at athletic events and as a parent I appreciate some "out of the box" thinking. The director of transportation announced at the board meeting a SAVINGS of over $1M. He did this by changing routes and reducing costs. This does sound like leadership! So he wants to try a new program that is ALREADY used in other schools across the U.S. Good for him! Why can't people give others the benefit of the doubt and let the school district try some new ideas. My kids will love this and we are taxpayers.

A HALF A BILLION DOLLARS aka $500,000,000.00 in the HOLE in 3 1/2 years. Go right ahead because as things stand now the district has a -0- percent chance of getting anymore tax money to open the additions. While they're at it they can put desk and anything else needed for the class rooms as that's where classes are going to be held.

Yes other school districts are doing this but they aren't facing the very realistic scenario of the state taking them over. Wake-up we are very close to this happening. Cuts will happen across the board.

We'll all be getting our tax bills shortly, up, up and away!

WE AGREE GINNY!!!!
Thank you for sharing the accurate information that Mr. Berlin and the school district are trying this no different than anything else. Congrats to them for searching outside of Illinois for something new. Out there? YES! Good for 308!!!!
The school district IS NOT BROKEN and it is NOT running out of money. Ask the people on the inside and improvements have been great!! More to come as I understand. We have children and are very pleased. Good job 308. Not everybody is so negative. Wow.

We are approaching the modern digital age folks! Books that are costly and outdated will be a thing of the past. We MUST advance or our kids will be left behind. I for one think that kids using wifi for school work is a better choice than their usual ear buds in listening to music, using their phones for group pics or wasting their time on a long ride back from trips.

I as a junior at east think this is a great idea. I am constantly doing projects (this week alone I had two serial killer projects -one for forensics, one for psych 2- I had a photo essay for English 3 and I had a family tree due in Spanish that had to be completed through "glogster") I don't always have time after school to get things done(I have a steady job, I am in student council and I volunteer over at Boulderhill Elementry School through Big Brothers Big Sisters.) my parents have 7 other kids to worry about and cannot aford a data plan to go to all of us and I'm okay with that. I know a lot of you guys think that we'll just use it for social networking but if its a district 308 network you can't go on any social media site (such as YouTube, Facebook, && twitter, ect) please know your facts about the circumstances before you start saying it is a really bad idea. Thank you for reading this && have a nice spring break :)

Does the technology department still have a director ? this must have been their idea. I remember Dr. Petzke left [Dr. Petzke was a terrific guy I heard].

How is it fair that we can spend $1640.00 plus another $60.00 a month in fees for wi-fi but we can't pay for supplies that "TEACHERS pay out of their OWN pockets for the classrooms that benefit ALL the students"?

Arizona does this but they are non-union correct? Maybe we should out source the bus service, get a better deal and then we would have the money to supply all the buses with "current technology" . Swap out one for the other and it would be a wash, so to speak.

Yet another waist of taxpayer dollars without the taxpayers having a voice. Just plain stupid and not at all necessary. There are MANY other issues they need to address in providing a safe, productive environment for our kids to learn in. As someone has mentioned, they removed several buses and forced many kids to walk a longer distance to school in an effort to "cut costs"......and yet Wi Fi is on the table now. Really? Get the priorities straight here people. There is no point in "keeping up with the Jones's" if your failing to listen to the taxpayers and getting deeper in debt. Hey, lets hire more teachers and put a teacher on each bus too! Come on....

Funny, Dr. O'Malley didn't list this as one of the areas he could cut during the charter school presentation. Yes, let's cut gifted, but keep Wi-Fi. Seems like both sides can twist things.

I am asked to provide basic school supplies 60 pencils a kid and dry erase markers for the teacher's use because things are tight and then we read this. How about we arm our teachers with the basic tools they need to write on the boards first? Pencils for the kids so they can write or are the all going to share the one computer in the classroom?

This is a waste of money and time.

Don't have the money for seat belts ,but you have money for that ,no wonder our country sliding in education score a bunch, of dumbazz teaching future dumdazz

It is the way of the future or I should really say now, today. WI Fi is being placed everywhere and computers are more and becoming a part of everyday life for many different applications. It's moving at a tremendous pace and we are barely keeping up. It's something maybe more of a country we need to look at as opposed to each school district for WIFI. WIFI is almost like the telephone when it wasnt everywhere back in the day. When I look at what I use my handheld for work and business travel, I would have never imagined it just a few years ago. I know the trend is to go fully electronic in education, thus removing other materials that ironically cost more money. Inagine if you had to mail every email sent what that would cost, let alone a waste of time. Man it's amazing how much people dislike public education anymore as I read above.

My 13 year old middle school thinks it "unnecessary" and thinks the the money would be better spent on things the the schools needs more. Its not that it is "bad" it's just not a good use of resources. Caviar tastes on a ground beef budget.

We have seatbelts for children that require them. It is not a law in Illinois for seatbelts in 308 buses.

I am a student at Plank, and I witness what children on our bus do. They use profanity--unnecessary profanity. The cameras (that are half of the time not even turned on) "record" this..but the district never does anything about it. First, they should take care of this, because personally, I think it's disgusting what the kids say and do. They use their phones to get on Facebook and Twitter anyway (although I don't know how they access the websites since they're blocked). This is my personal view, but I think they should not add wi-fi to the buses, because the kids won't use it for educational sites anyway! Lots of the "enhancements" they've added to our district have not helped the children at all. The kids don't care about any of it. Quite frankly, I'm disappointed in this choice.

UNBELIEVABLE!!! WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD THIS BE NECESSARY?????

WHY DONT THEY START SPENDING THE MONEY THEY ARE ALLOCATED FOR CERTAIN PROGRAMS (students with disabilities/mental illness/special needs) instead of finding UNNECESSARY ways to spend money they don't have!!!!

I am EXTREMEMLY upset by this & everyone else should be as well!!!

Sandy , I hear you!

The state is going to "CUT" 300 million dollars out of the educational funding to our school districts. Do people not get that it will include us. How much more do you think we'll be without for next school year. It will get to the point that we'll all be on our own when it comes to funding the schools.

The on-line schooling looks better and better each day!

I to am a School Bus Driver. As a bus driver we are suppose to make sure our cameras are working. I don't think they should spend the money on Wi-Fi. Most of the students don't do any homework. They are chatting with others, listening to there music or reading. They need to put the money to good use some place else. Where do we get off putting Wi-Fi in buses when there are schools in Chicago closing.

For those of you who might not know , last year they installed g p s units on all the buses at a cost of over one hundred thousand dollars not to mention the fact that it costs eight dollars per month per bus for the service at 100 buses that's $11,600 a year. Last month they told us we wasted 180.00 dollars of fuel with the buses idling to long it cost them $100,018.00 to figure this out. Maybe its just me but that doesn't make much sense. It was a big waste of money.

The gps units are great to know where buses are located. This was a very good idea to know where buses are since safety is important. My nephew is in a school district that requires an id card swipe so the school knows he is on the bus. I hope 308 SPENDS the money to do that too. Wise spending. My kids love the wifi idea for long trips for sports.

I agree Ginny, safety is important, but are nice toys to play angry birds on the bus really that much important in the short ride it takes to get kids home to their own internet ? maybe not so much.

GPS are a good thing. We have so many parents saying we wasn't at there home to pick up there child. Or we was speeding. With the GPS it shows the parents where we are and when we was there.

ayar - I don't make it a habit to tell my doctor what equipment to use on me. I don't make it a habit to tell my dentist or mechanic what equipment to use. I feel the BOARD OF EDUCATION is elected to hire experts to make decisions. Too many cooks in the kitchen........ ????

Ginny, if your kids think this is such a great idea, why don't you pay for the data plans on their electronics? I don't have children and find it offensive my tax dollars would be spent supporting this. Even if I did have children in district 308, I'd be against it! Poor little Jonny needs something to occupy his time on long bus trips?! Spoiled and bratty come to mind. We pay almost $200 a month for my husband to commute downtown for work and even he doesn't have WIFI on the train. In this economy where so many are cutting back and kids in classroom get the 'basics' from their teachers pockets, I find this type of spending frivolous!

Heather, why is this looked at as "frivolous"? What about football? Bowling? If we plan to have a school district with only basics then we should cut all sports. Right? I mean I would rather have kids with internet than sports. Right? My point is that we have a board of education and they hire people to make these decisions. Are you running for board this year? "My tax dollars" How do you know YOUR tax dollars are being spent on this? We should be building up this school distict not tearing it down!

There seems to be very negative comments and people upset. How did this happen. When can we turn this around and start promoting the good school distict? It seems to me and my wife there is more positive now. Lets do our part to build up 308. Thanks.

Dustin, look at your tax bill. Where is the majority of our tax dollars going ?
while this is not a bad thing that it is going to the education of our kids, if we don't spend it wisely, as someone else had said, we have huge building loans, and other things to pay for. Our pockets are not endless, and there are others out there who are retired, living on tight budgets. Spending money on things like Wi-Fi Buses when we have schools in our district hurting for technology at times [Boulder Hill, Long Beach, etc.] you have to stop and wonder what the heck they are thinking. It's not that it isn't a nice thing, but we have to prioritize our dollar and get good value to it. We like 308 just fine, but just like a parent who is out with their kid shopping, you don't buy every shiny new toy for the kid, either. You do the best you can with the "Budget" you have in front of you, which varies per customer.

Absolutely ridiculous.
If you, as a a parent, are facing the issue of having to balance your child's academic needs with those of participating in time-consuming sports, perhaps you have bigger issues.

Here's a thought....With so many issues of constant bullying on buses, how about you put video cameras on the buses instead of the WiFi. Make the bullies accountable for a change!!!!