KNOX COUNTY — It’s a predicament every parent faces waiting for their children’s school bus to arrive at home: “when will it get here?”
A new app introduced by Knox County Schools for the first time this week aims to give parents the ability to monitor where their kids are while going to and from school.
“We want to give parents more transparency into the transportation of their children. This is one way that we can do that,” said Ryan Dillingham, the Knox County Schools Transportation Department Operations Manager. “It is a bus tracking app that will allow parents to view when their child’s bus is going to be at a specific stop.”
The SafeStop app allows Knox County parents to track their children’s school buses and determine if they are on-time or late.
For parents like Jessica Mcafee, the app will give her peace-of-mind when she puts her 4th grade daughter on the school bus every day.
“It’s got a tracker on it so I’ll know when it’s in front of the house, when it’s close,” said Mcafee. “If you’re running late, you know where the bus is at. I could be busy and look at my phone and she’s outside.”
Not everyone can use the app.
Parents must enter their student’s ID number into the app in order to create an account. That helps mitigate the security risk while also allowing parents to stay on top of their children’s whereabouts.
“It will not show you the route of the bus,” said Dillingham. “All you can see is on a map the graphic depiction of the bus and your stop.”
The app can send parents text messages to alert them if their child’s bus is running late. From there, parents can track the bus in real time. The GPS locator updates every 30 seconds.
The app isn’t just for parents.
For 4th grader Bailey Roberts, the app may just save her from getting any tardy slips.
“If I’m about to be late for school,” Roberts said. “I’ll know when the bus is coming so I won’t be late.”