Carmel Schools Discuss Parent Access to Bus GPS

By Holly Crocco

The Carmel School Board is considering options to equip every school bus with GPS technology, and whether parents should be able to access that information.

Superintendent of Schools Michael Plotkin told the Carmel School Board during its Sept. 22 meeting that the discussion has been ongoing since the spring, with district transportation leaders saying such technology could help improve the efficiency of the more than 80 routes driven by more than 100 buses each day.

About three-quarters of the buses currently have GPS capabilities, with information available to the transportation office. However, the district is planning to get new radios for all the buses, which will come with GPS technology through a lease program, thus equipping the entire fleet.

“To be able to see how we transition in the morning and the afternoon… from high school pickup, to middle school pickup, to elementary school, we will be able to assess how the whole system works,” he said. “We should be able to, without using the radio, know where each of our buses are.”

There is also interest from parents who would like to be able to see the status of their child’s bus while on route, which Assistant Superintendent for Business Ken Silver said would need further research since it brings up security concerns.

“That GPS is just for our transportation people,” he said of the new radios, noting that parents won’t be able to access that information.

Silver said the cost estimate to secure the technology needed for parents to be able to access the bus GPS information is between $27,000 and $30,000.

School Board member Daniel Minieri, who initiated the discussion, said he would like to see if access can be made available to parents without compromising student safety or security, as it may be helpful.

“I’m talking about the parents that have to get home from work or have grandparents to meet the kids at the bus stops, things of that nature,” he said. “I think that if you polled the district parents and you asked them, this would come back 90 percent that people want this.”

Further, Minieri said he suspects having this availability would reduce calls into the transportation office when a bus is running late, or there are other transit issues.

“My hope would be that this would cut down immensely on that type of traffic for the bus garage and they can focus on any real issues, not 400 phone calls asking, ‘Why is the bus late?’” he said.

Plotkin said the district needs to find out a solid upfront cost, any long-term expenses, if there is a cost to parents, and the security details – such as if the technology is compliant with New York’s EdLaw 2-d, which protects student, teacher, and staff information from being shared with third parties.

Board member Jordi Douglas said he is in total support of GPS on the buses, but not at all supportive of sharing that information with parents.

“It’s Pandora’s Box, granting the access to everyone, and it is more than a slippery slope,” he said. “There are families that are navigating some fractures and I have significant concerns with keeping every member of those families safe with this technology.”

Board member Michael Torpey has also led discussions on the topic, saying it would be useful to parents to get notifications when a bus will be late, rerouted due to traffic, or otherwise not on time.

“I don’t know how in depth you can alter the software or the capability it has, but if there’s a way you don’t see the buses on the map, you just get updates… If the bus is late, it didn’t leave where it was supposed to on time, that message goes out,” he said. “And that’s it.”

Torpey said $30,000 is a “very minimal investment for this type of peace of mind for parents.”

Board member Nicholas Magliano was on the fence about the matter.

“I think this could potentially create more issues than it solves, unless it is handled correctly,” he said. “But I would like to see a lot more about this actual thing, how you want to do it, how it will be implemented… Right now, I don’t love it.”

Board President Melissa Orser suggested GPS accessibility for parents could cause a different problem, where parents might see that a bus is stopped somewhere for a long time, and now all the parents with kids on that route are calling the transportation office to ask why.

However, if done right, she said the concept is appealing. “I love the idea of getting update on buses,” she said.

Board Vice President John Curzio II said he supports the concept, and that the issue has been added to the Oct. 13 Audit, Facilities & Operations Committee meeting. “We can speak more in-depth at the committee level and get some of these questions answered,” he said.

The full board is expected to continue discussion at a future meeting.