The Greene County School Board recently approved a purchase to increase safety and awareness within its transportation system.

At their most recent meeting in December, the School Board approved to purchase an additional feature with their current carrier of Stopfinder Geo Alerts, with the Samsara GPS. Superintendent Brett Abbotts tells Raccoon Valley Radio this new program provides a live location of where each school bus is when they are on their routes to and from school. He says parents can access the live locations through a free app on their smart device, as long as they are registered through the student information system with the school district.

Abbotts talks about why they felt they wanted to pursue this kind of program at this time.

“It was a safety aspect for us. It was another layer of communication, just to ease parents’ worries and just to allow them to know that their kids are safe, we know where they’re at, there’s no need to panic if a bus is a few minutes late.”    

Abbotts notes the app will tell users where the bus is, how long until they arrive and the user can set up geo-fencing to give them an alert that their child is a few minutes away from being dropped off at their designation. However, Abbotts points out the student must get on the correct bus because this new system does not track that. He adds the Samsara GPS is only for their 15 buses and will be used for activities as well. 

The Board approved the three year contract, with a $4,500 one-time set up fee, and a $500 annual fee to lease all equipment for all 15 buses. Payment for the system is from the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) fund. Abbotts anticipates launching the new system after winter break.