Do You Need A Student Tracking System?

One of the biggest fears of transportation coordinators, school administrators, parents, and even school bus drivers, is a missing child during the transportation to and from school. While it may be uncommon to have a missing child issue during the entirety of your career, it can still happen. All schools have their own "what if" scenarios planned out and ready to be utilized should such a thing happen, and normally these sort of contingency plans are created early to make sure that everyone involved is safe and found.

However, one way to the make the process easier of finding a missing child or a child that might be in trouble is by using the power of technology and a student tracking system. It may sound strange, or even weird, but many schools use technology in order to keep their children safe--especially when it comes to the rush of kids after school trying to get home.

So, does your school need a student tracking system? What are the exact benefits of implementing one? Both of these questions and more can be answered below.

Technology and safety meet

Back in the old days, tracking students could mean a tremendous headache of logistics and keeping in constant contact with everyone involved. Nobody wants to have a missing child on their hands, or something even possibly worse, which is where technology comes in to make finding students much easier.

School buses can be tracked via GPS satellites and now students can have a "profile" created in scheduling and routing software which can easily be accessed whenever needed. When this happens, a child's profile can be easily retrieved, communicated via phone or radio between the driver and coordinator, and the GPS coordinates from the student tracking system are used to figure out where the students were and if they have arrived at home or at school .

Though the initial set-up of tracking each student via technology might sound like quite a bit of work, the long-term effects are tremendously helpful and all of that student data can be easily updated and accessed when needed. Same with the GPS data from the entire fleet.

Wouldn't you rather have the peace of mind that each and every child who is taking the bus is safer because of student tracking?

Your student tracking is hard to manage

Sometimes a method of how things are done needs to be changed for the current times. A student tracking system is one of those methods which needs to be updated from time to time, especially if the school is going to see a high number of differing enrollment rates from year to year. It's okay to admit that a system needs to change, because schools are always changing with the times to stay relevant and up to date.

A big give away that you might need an updated student tracking system is when all of the student, driver, and route data is becoming too much to handle either manually or even with your current software. An updated tracking system can ensure better efficiency, higher safety, and even better budgeting for the entire transportation department and district.

Implementing such an update doesn't have to be a hassle. It can be installed during breaks within the school year and easily managed with software that anyone can learn very quickly. Are you ready to have a comprehensive system to track both the fleet and the students under your care?