Mount Airy City Schools has been selected for a bus transportation package pilot program that is designed to increase safety for riders during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
In the fall, the third round of state COVID-19 relief legislation provided $115,000 to establish the Smart School Bus Safety pilot program. Mount Airy City Schools was selected to participate as the district had brought 75% of students back to in-person learning at the start of the 2020-2021 school year.
“We are grateful to the General Assembly for trusting Mount Airy City Schools with such a great project,” said Superintendent Dr. Kim Morrison. “We believe that districts across the state will need technology to help all students begin coming to school face-to-face. We are happy to pilot this amazing Traversa technology and are so glad our students will benefit from it.”
The program started on Nov. 23 and will end on Jan. 1, 2024. With funding being required to be spent by Dec. 30, 2020, the district has already worked through the bid process and selected Tyler Technologies to install equipment. Installation began in November and by full implementation in April 2021, equipment will be able to provide live data through its dashboard including routes, vehicle information, ridership, personnel management, security, and GPS. The pilot is expected to be in full swing by August 2021.
“I am excited about the pilot program, and to be the first school district in the state to get this is an honor. We are moving forward building a solid foundation as we go, to better serve our students and families,” said Transportation Coordinator Jon Doss.
On Jan. 19 the district welcomed the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Tyler Technologies, and the area’s state school bus inspector to discuss what the expansion of this technology might look like on a larger scale. With multiple bus styles, the placement of the tablets used by bus drivers would need to fit many models across the state. The district also welcomed six other districts to showcase what options are available within the transportation package.
Buses will be able to take students’ temperatures and create COVID seating charts based on routes that will be accessible for contact tracing. New camera systems will allow personnel to see who students come in contact with on and off the bus. Parents and guardians will be able to track when students check-in on the bus and when they arrive at school. With the district now boasting 85% of students learning on campus, bus ridership will increase when COVID restrictions begin to lessen.
In addition to the health and wellness technology being piloted, the Traversa software by Tyler Technologies includes a GPS tracking of school buses, route efficiencies tools, and visual display. The technology provides turn-by-turn navigation, pre-and post-trip vehicle inspections, and communicates ridership information to Powerschool. These enhanced pieces of technology will provide additional layers of safety measures to keep families and schools informed. Transportation Coordinator Jon Doss along with Latasha Hudson and Amy Utt have been undergoing hours of training to complete start-up reports and learn the multi-layered system. Following the completion of this pilot, the city school system will keep all equipment.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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