fication, which can also allow the district to go after Medicaid reimbursement. He expressed interest in the latter when hearing about Osceola County’s success during a technology panel he participated on with Creach at the TSD Conference in November. Eventually, Dillingham said he hopes to have tablets
installed in each of the district’s nearly 400 vehicles, most of which are contracted. The second time may be the charm at Houston In-
dependent School District, which abandoned an earlier effort with tablets but now plans to obtain new models for its 750 buses. John Wilcots, Houston’s executive director of transportation and fleet services, recalled that tablets have been in place for almost a decade, but the district stopped using them last year. “We were always having issues with the drivers being able to download their route information and for student information to come over consistently,” he said. “Too often a driver would be halfway through the route before the tablet would start working okay.” Wilcots attributed the shortcomings to a combination
of factors, ranging from the initial choice in devices to inadequate online access. He said he has plans to improve telematics infrastructure and purchase new tablets this year.
Emphasizing Safety While some have expressed safety concerns, districts
are taking care to emphasize safe use of onboard devices. “We have no safety issues or know of any,” noted
Wouters in Melissa, Texas. “Once our route drivers learn their route, they really only listen to the tablet.” At Indian Prairie, staff initially worked with state
police, local law enforcement and state transportation officials to ensure they were incorporating safe practices in not only the use of the devices but also for optimal location for installation as well as driver best practices. “The addition of mobile data terminals actually de-
creases the likelihood of a distracted driver situation by eliminating paper route sheets that drivers hold in their hands to follow planned route paths,” Johnson pointed out. “The voice navigation instructs drivers when to turn
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40 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2024
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