A new Tyler Drive tablet installed in an Orange County Public Schools bus in Florida.
staff members to board vehicles to retrieve hard drives. “We’ve also just added tablets on our buses to provide
drivers the most up-to-date route information as well as stu- dent information,” Wen added. This includes verifying rider eligibility, whether students are getting on or off the correct bus and at the correct stop. The tablets can add in any stops that are combined for the day and also provide audible turn-by-turn directions for drivers, if needed. The student verification is also being sent to a parent app that provides more accurate information about student locations. “This technology will provide more accurate student
ridership numbers and make it easier for state funding reports,” Wen said. Upgrading technology has also been a priority at Sem- inole County Public Schools in Sandford, Florida. New tech has replaced the previous system for submitting and tracking bus requests, which had become antiquated. “We wanted a one-stop-shop for requests,” said Di-
rector of Transportation Services Stan McKinzie. “We needed a system which would track requests, create historical data, and update the requestor of the status of the request in real time.” Working with vendors, transportation staff created a
transportation request management system that allows school-based staff and parents to request changes, such as a new stop because of a hazardous walkway, a stop for parents with joint custody, a ticket to ride, or meeting needs of students with special accommodations. Parents can also report concerns about a bus stop, driver or monitor, or other students on the bus. “Transportation staff choose the outcome of the
request from a pre-determined list of possible solu- tions,” McKinzie explained. “This system takes the guesswork out of the equation.” Benefits of the system include the ability for parents
to view all requests for their students and receive email updates from the time a request is created until its resolution. School-based staff can also see the status of the request, and those in transportation can chat with parents through the system, creating a record of the conversation in the process. “All correspondence regarding the request now lives in
one space,” McKinzie noted. Steps to upgrade radios have proven beneficial at
Hilton Central School District in Hilton, New York, which made the transition to a digital system in place of
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