Airclic in The News
Where is Your Student?
…GPS remains a viable option. Spring Valley ISD outside of Houston says its system is more than up to the task of providing state-of-the-art and non-proprietary student tracking capabilities to meet the growing needs of school district accountability.
“It seems like most school districts across the country are in the same boat,” said Weisinger, transportation director for Spring ISD outside of Houston. “We don’t know exactly who’s going to be jumping on the bus, especially at the beginning of school (in the fall).”
Nearby Houston ISD experienced a harrowing incident in March when a distraught man suspected by police to be on drugs flagged down a school bus, climbed on top of the vehicle and eventually gained entrance through the rooftop emergency hatch. The driver escaped and no children were aboard, and police apprehended the suspect a short time later. Bonnie Russell, executive director of Houston ISD’s transportation services, said the bus in question was not equipped with GPS.
Still, it was a timely incident, as Spring ISD had recently outfitted 180 of its 240-vehicle school bus fleet with AirClic MP, a GPS-based system that reports the real-time location of all students onboard any district bus and the time and location of their pick-up or drop-off using a passive identification card reader. The district piloted the program toward the end of the 2003-2004 school year and is approaching the completion of its first year using the technology to track all elementary students. Weisinger said the district will employ the same system next school year for all secondary students.
“Whenever a student walks on or off our bus, the school knows where that student is,” Weisinger said. “It gives me peace of mind; it gives some sense of control.”
The school district transports more than 19,000 students each school day to more than 25 schools across a 57-square mile area. Weisinger, a parent himself, said he understands and appreciates the fear he hears in the voices of parents who call looking for their child. Usually there is an easy explanation, such as a forgotten after-school activity or un-approved play date at a friend’s house. But, with AirClic MP, parents can rest assured that their child’s whereabouts are reasonably known at all times, and there is no invasion of privacy.
“We are experts at being able to capture that event and make that data available real time, but it isn’t tied to student records,” said Tim Bradley, CEO at AirClic.
The radio frequency identification (RFID) system works by assigning a unique number to each student that the school district can later link to the student’s confidential information on an as-needed basis. The RFID is then assigned to the individual’s student ID card, which is made at the student’s local school, and the number entered into the transportation department’s database. Weisinger said neither a scanning light nor bar code transmits the unique student ID, but instead, an RFID reader installed in the stairwell of each bus picks up the signal and transmits the data using a cell phone. When a successful RFID signal is transmitted the reader chirps and displays a green light; if the pass is unsuccessful a red light emits.
“Before you (issue) the Amber Alert you have to have as much information as you can for the police,” said Weisinger. “We have not done that yet and I hope we don’t have to, but I have this in my back pocket if I need it.”
As with most GPS, AirClic MP is fully customizable, making cost difficult to determine. But Bradley said schools can anticipate spending $25 to $30 per month per bus or configuration for the general, out-of-the-box system. Additional options include proof of delivery, inventory tracking, time management, and routing and scheduling. “If you don’t know and you need to know, the ability to have the information is priceless,” he added.
