Lee County schools are spending a $1 million grant to try to keep track of students who ride buses.
A card-scanning program called Student Ridership begins with the new school year this week. It will allow parents and school officials to see when and where a student gets on or off a bus.
Bus riders will scan an I-D card when they get on the bus. It will register a beep, and the driver will see the student's identity come up on an iPad.
"It is a safety measure," Roger Lloyd, director of Lee County School District transportation, said. "So we ensure we know not only where every child is, but where they got off."
The program is designed to eliminate cases of children who are lost after getting off at the wrong stop, or falling asleep and missing the correct stop. Lloyd says those incidents happen every year, and create great stress for parents and school officials.
"The biggest fear of any parent is not knowing," he said. "With Student Ridership, the parent will know: my child is on this bus."
Parents have been able to download a Where's the Bus APP on their phones for a few years. Now that APP will show the student's bus ridership.
Marie Wheeler recalls the anguish she felt when her child didn't come home one afternoon a few years ago.
"My kid got off at the wrong bus stop," Wheeler said. "He was only six. It took three hours to find him. It was hectic. So I think this will help the parents know where the kid got off at."
Bus drivers will have an iPad to log in a student who loses or forgets the card. Driver Donna Robison welcomes the program:
"I feel awesome about it," she said. "Everybody has to scan off when leaving the bus. So if a child is asleep at the back, we will know to look, and get that child to a safe location."
Azaria Rizzo says she will ride a bus for her sophomore year at Island Coast High, and will use the card.
"It's a good thing they're trying to do," Rizzo said. "But there are a lot of kids who are going to lose or misplace their cards."
The district says schools will have equipment to print up new cards for students who lose theirs.
Mike Walcher is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Journalism at FGCU. He also works for WGCU News. He can be reached at mwalcher@fgcu.edu