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Tennessee Conservative News [By Olivia Lupia] –
As students head back to school, one Tennessee school district has added a new feature to the daily bus ride theoretically designed to keep parents informed about their child’s whereabouts from pickup to drop-off.
Washington County Schools replaced their bus management system which has been used since 2019, switching to “BusRight” ahead of the school year which allows parents to monitor their child’s location via an app.
Upon boarding and getting off the bus, each student will tap a bus card, sending a notification directly to the parent app, giving real-time estimations about when children will arrive at their next destination. The system can immediately flag if a student boards the wrong bus, and parents will know if their child has not checked-in as scheduled.
Superintendent Jerry Boyd said the district was looking for “something a little more modern” and that the new system “achieved the goal of being a lot more user-friendly, easier to make adjustments and maintain our routes. If we need to adjust a route, it’s certainly less complicated.”
Boyd also said the system is relatively easy for students, drivers, and the district to manage. “It has a GPS system and a small screen. It’s just a tap. For young students, they can put it on their backpack and they can tap it,” he stated.
Some parents seem to be optimistic about the new feature, saying it could make a meaningful difference in ensuring their children’s safety.
“It just adds an extra level of safety. It makes us feel better as parents that you know for sure where they’re at,” said one father.
Given the number of school bus-related issues experienced over the last few years, including two fatal crashes, additional resources for parents to keep closer tabs on their children may come as a relief for many district parents.
Though tracking a student’s boarding or deboarding a bus would likely not have realistically prevented any of the tragedies, some of the other routing or tracking BusRight features may have made some difference for parents or administrators dealing with the crises.
In 2016, a Hamilton County school bus driver lost control of a bus while speeding on an unauthorized route, striking a pole and tree before the bus flipped and tragically killed six students, injuring dozens more. Whether a system like BusRight could have prevented the driver from taking the unauthorized route is unknown, but the possibility that parents and school officials many have at least been aware that children were off route is worth considering.
In another instance, a school bus from Montgomery County was transporting students to a field trip when the driver crossed the median and collided with oncoming traffic, resulting in the deaths of two children and the serious injury of several more. Parents have been criticizing the school system’s handing of the incident, saying they were not provided adequate information about the emergency.
And while BusRight may not have been able to prevent the tragedy itself, perhaps tracking their students could have helped parents get the appropriate information during the incident instead of having to learn about it via social media or being ignored when calling the school, as some parents said happened to them.
Or in the case of a Dixon County bus that caught on fire while students were still aboard, parents and administrators may have been able to see with BusRight that the bus was delayed or stalled along the route, allowing parents to potentially check in with students and reach them faster.
While Washington County’s use of the BusRight system may seem to be a good step forward in child safety, as the system is developed and contracted through a third party company parents may still wish to exercise caution and ensure they have all the information about exactly what data is tracked, how it is stored, who has access to it, and take appropriate measures to ensure cards are not lost or stolen.
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
