Parents can track school buses with an app

Parents will be able to track their kids as if they were being delivered by UPS.

That’s because school bus drivers in the Grand Coulee Dam School District will log on and off each child who rides their bus, with new devices and software to help keep track of the students.

And, of course, there’s an app for that. Parents can follow their kids’ buses on their phones and know what time the child will be dropped off, said Superintendent Rod Broadnax at his last “Coffee with the Superintendent” May 27 at Voltage Coffee House.

“We’ve had a couple of incidents this year [in which] the student may have been left on the bus but at the last minute the bus driver finds him,” Broadnax said. “So, it should help, almost like a GPS tracker.”

It will also help keep parents informed during those long field or sports trips. “So, parents will know, hey, the bus is coming from to Tonasket, and it should be here at 9:30,” he said.

It can also help bus drivers on trips to unfamiliar places, providing directions and best routes, even considering current conditions, he said.

The new system, which operates with iPads in the buses, comes at a cost to the district of $90,000, including the bus units, software, and training for drivers and others.