HELENA – Parents in the Helena School District will now have a new way to find out exactly where their kids’ school bus is.
This week, the district announced they will begin using the Edulog Parent Portal mobile app. Parents and guardians can sign up for the app using their students’ name, school, and other information. They will then be able to see the kids’ bus schedule, where the bus is and when it’s expected to arrive.
“You can have that app running on your phone in the mornings and the afternoons, and you can get a prediction on when your children are going to be there,” said Drew VanFossen, Helena Public Schools’ transportation routing specialist. “So if you need to plan to pick them up after school, plan to drive them to the bus stop, you get a much better idea – instead of having to call in and ask for that information.”
All district buses are now equipped with GPS, so the app can show their exact location pinpointed on a map. Parents will also be able to set up notifications when the bus reaches a certain distance from the stop, so they can plan when to pick up or drop off their kids.
VanFossen said the school district has been working for about a year to add app support.
“This is just part of using technology to provide better services for parents, to provide a better experience for kids riding the bus,” he said. “You can trust that your bus is this far away.”
He said many other districts are looking at using this kind of technology in the future.
The Edulog Parent Portal is available on all major mobile app stores. You can find more information about the app, including how to set it up, at the district’s website.
