PROBLEM

Onslow County Schools wanted to continue to improve communication with parents regarding transportation. They are users of Edulog’s Web Query which allows parents of current and prospective students to see their school of attendance and closest bus stop based on their residence address. In addition, they wanted to provide parents with even more detailed information about the specific bus stop location to which their student is assigned, as well as the time the bus is planned to be there each morning and afternoon.

HOW THEY SOLVED IT

The Edulog Parent Portal mobile app does just that – puts this information literally in the palms of the hands of parents and caregivers with students riding the district’s school buses. All of this communication is accomplished without displaying real-time GPS bus locations. The district wanted a solution for communication without publishing bus locations. That is, they did not want parents to be able to see where the bus is going along its route and so chose to install Edulog Parent Portal without GPS.

RESULTS

Onslow County Schools has used Edulog‘s routing system, known as TIMS in North Carolina, very effectively and maintains a thorough, accurate routing plan for their 200+ buses. Using Edulog Parent Portal, they can make TIMS information available to parents through the mobile app. Parents sign up for the app and then can see information only for their student(s). The app displays the specific bus stop location, the planned arrival times, and the bus number assigned to each route. The transportation department can also use the app to provide information about bus substitutions. They can make changes in the “back end” of the system so that parents will always see the right bus number in the app. Parents receive a push notification in the app when their child is riding a different bus. From that interface, they can also send push notification messages to parents based on the school, route, or bus run to which their student is assigned.