SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Seminole County Public Schools said on Tuesday that it is in an exploratory phase, looking into new tracking technology for students.
Ideally, the district wants students to be able to scan a device when entering and exiting off of a school bus.
Joseph Ranaldi, the executive director of operations of SCPS said that the district is creating a committee to develop the tracking system.
"We are thinking it would probably be tied into their ID card," said Ranaldi. "We are seeing basically what's out there and there are other competitors too that have approached us for their products, so we just want to do a software evaluation."
Ranaldi also said that real time information would be able to help locate students more quickly.
"A lot of times we hear from parents when a child perhaps gets off at a different bus stop, goes to a friend's house and we want to make sure that we know when the child got off the bus," said Ranaldi.
Donna Andries said that her daughter is a freshman at Seminole High School and that she welcomes the idea.
"I've heard stories about kids are forgotten on the bus or they left kids on the bus. So, if that kid is not scanned in, then they will know the child is still on the bus," said Andries.
SCPS said that all of the buses in their district already have a GPS to monitor the vehicle location.
School officials said it will be at least another year before the technology could be used and there is not a projected cost for the project.