As part of the “new normal,” Mathews County Public Schools has deployed a SmartBus near the Mathews Parks and Recreation parking lot to make life easier for students with limited internet access trying to complete assignments during the COVID-19 school shutdown.

According to Bill Vrooman, the division’s technology coordinator, Mathews County Public Schools began experimenting with SmartBuses last March through field trips.

“On one trip our elementary students using our Chromebooks, Google Docs and internet access, created short documents related to the field trip they were going on to a Richmond museum while on the long bus trip,” said Vrooman.

“This effectively extended the classroom during the two-hour trip to and the two-hour trip back from the museum. The students thought it was great and the teachers regained valuable instruction time that would have normally been lost on the long trip.”

The idea of a SmartBus is not new for MCPS. “This is something the division has ...