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parents would like to know that their child maybe was exposed and should maybe get a [COVID] test. It’s been a great use case for this solution that has really helped schools stay open during COVID-19.” Mest noted that Zonar, as with the other technology providers, has seen
a huge uptick of schools and communities asking for this service. “Most of them already have cards, so it’s just enhancing the cards they already have for student ID and using a multi-purpose card [for the school bus],” he said, adding that school districts should have policies in place for if a student forgets or loses their card. Bill Westerman, the vice president of Cal/Amp that owns telematics
provider Synovia Solutions, agreed. He explained that the primary driver of student ridership technology right now is COVID-19 contact tracing. In ad- dition to knowing what students got off at what stop, student ridership also helps with utilization, he said. The technology shows who is really riding the bus each day and what the district’s current utilization needs are. “Are there opportunities to reduce buses or a need to expand, in part also due to more separation for COVID?” he asked. ●
What Is an RFID Card? What does the term RFID mean, and what data do the cards hold of the
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student’s identity? RFID stands for radio-frequency identification, and uses radio frequency to search, identify, track and communicate with items and people. For Comal Independent School District in New Braunfels, Texas, the cards
have different information on them depending on student grade levels. For instance, elementary student cards contain their first and last name, after- noon stop location, school of attendance, afternoon bus number, and the district logo. The back of the card lists student responsibilities for school bus safety. Meanwhile, secondary students use the cards for school identification purposes, said Director of Transportation Jessica Fisher. The cards contain the student’s first and full last name, their grade, school of attendance and their school picture. Meanwhile, Michael Larson, the transportation supervisor for Laramie Coun- ty School District 1 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, said student pictures aren’t added to their cards. Instead, the district only uses the first letter of the child’s first name and their entire last name, along with the school abbreviation and the bus number. The cards link back to each student’s lunch number, so that no one outside of the district can find that card and access any of the student’s personal data. Brett Taylor, the product marketing manager for SMART tag, a subsidiary of
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Secured Mobility, explained that there are two different types of technology when it comes to RFID cards: passive and active. Active RFID cards have a battery in the chip and emit a continuous signal. He noted that it truly does track wherever that person is, as long as they have their badge on them. This type of active RFID cards is used in the military, law enforcement and larger corporations. However, the normal use case in student transportation is pas- sive, in which the battery is only activated when the card is placed against a card reader. Taylor said the reader activates the chip momentarily and sends that signal to a device, in SMART tag’s case a tablet, so that it can read the data and know what child is scanning on the bus, but it only records the transaction of that scan. “So, there are certain times where parents will have a wrong impression,” Taylor explained, adding that there is no student data whatsoever on the card.
32 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2022
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