News & Events

Muscogee County School District empowers parents with bus-tracking app
From www.wtvm.com / By Katrice Nolan / Aug. 7, 2024

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - As a new school year begins, the Muscogee County School District, GA is embracing technology to ensure the safety of students commuting by bus.

The district is deploying 265 buses each day to transport thousands of children to and from school.

Understanding the concerns of parents, the district has launched the Stopfinder app, a cutting-edge solution designed to provide peace of mind by tracking the safe return of their children.

“The way we have it set up is...they can create a geofencing or a geo alert code to where it’s based on their child’s stop location and their child’s school. So, whenever that bus enters that radius, they will receive an alert notification,” said Geofrey Jackson, MCSD director of transportation.

This app, developed for parents, offers a user-friendly interface and a straightforward registration process.

“All they need to do is go into any app store or Google Play store, download that app, set up a sign-in, user name and password and they’re good to go,” he explained.

For those unable to download the app directly, the school’s transportation department will facilitate access by sending a direct link to parents already enrolled in the transportation program.

“Hopefully, this gives the parents more of a security that their child has been picked up,” Jackson said. “Unfortunately, we have not gotten to the point to where we have a system in place to where we know that child actually boarded the bus.”

The app serves as an additional layer of security, offering real-time updates and alerts.

Jackson emphasizes that the Stopfinder app is not the sole enhancement to student safety this year.

“When they go through the school zone and they see those yellow lights, please adhere to the speed limits,” he said. “They are extremely important because there are cameras in some of those school zones now that will be taking pictures.”

The district has also implemented RedSpeed cameras on buses to monitor and improve traffic safety.

“We are ready to go. We had Pre-K through 2nd grade this morning, which is a practice run for us,” he added. “And then, we will have all grade levels, which we did our running all summer. So, all buses will be running tomorrow.”

As the fleet of buses gears up for the new academic year, Jackson advises parents to contact the transportation office should they encounter any issues with the app or bus services. He also notes that the district is actively recruiting more bus drivers to join their team.