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If your district is looking for better ways to communicate with parents about your transportation system, one of the best options is setting up a parental portal app.
Parent portal apps are protected and secured interfaces which allow recognized parents and guardians to access information about their students. They can serve many purposes, but one of the most effective applications is giving parents information about your bus schedule and ridership. The app can track the location of their children minute-to-minute, and is capable of confirming when students got on and off the bus. It can also provide live updates on the status of the bus, allowing parents to know when their children are likely to get home.
This brings several big benefits to your district and to parents!
Parents Can Self-Serve Information
Parental portal apps are typically available for both iOS and Android, allowing one-click access to the most important information they'd want to see. There's no faster and easier way for parents to confirm their students' location, or check for updates on bus route status.
For busy parents, this reduces the amount of time they have to spend seeking information, and allows them to better plan their evenings.
Push Important Updates To Parents
Is there a delay which is going to affect the arrival time of students on a particular bus? Are there other external factors affecting the ETA? You can directly push messages to parents registered on the app, giving them up-to-date information about the situation.
This is also true for any changes to bus scheduling or changes in bus assignments. It's one more tool for ensuring students are always at the right bus stop, at the right time, getting on the right bus.
Reduce Calls To Your Office
When parents can quickly get all the information they need from the app, they have far less reason to call into the office looking for updates. This becomes an instant productivity gain, freeing up your staff to handle other matters. It also reduces strain on your telephone lines and allows other important calls to get through.
With so many different people and situations demanding the attention of your office staff, any reduction in their workload is going to bring big benefits.
Guarantee Security
One of the most common concerns about portal apps regards security. After all, you wouldn't want any random person being able to track your buses. Fortunately, modern apps can have robust authentication behind the scenes. As long as the parents/guardians register properly with the school, you can guarantee they only get access to the information relevant to their family, without having access to other areas.
In addition, other security measures such as Two-Factor Authentication (TFA) - such as sending authentication codes via text or email - can help ensure that only the right people can access the portal.
BusBoss Improves Your Bus System
BusBoss is dedicated to bringing the best solutions for modern school transportation systems. From GPS tracking of buses, to optimized routing, to parent portal apps, we offer solutions for every district's need while fitting into your budget.
Has your district implemented a parent portal? If you have any tips, please share them in the comments!
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