Starting in January 2011, GPS tracking devices will be installed eight school buses in Columbia Elementary , Madison County, AL. The gps tracking devices will be used as part of a pilot program for a new bus tracking system. The new bus tracking system will enable parents to track the location of the bus their child is riding in real-time.

Bobby Jackson, Administrator of Transportation for Columbia Elementary,  said that as soon as students are enrolled in the program, students will use their fingerprints to check in and off school buses. “Parents will know their child is on the bus and where the bus is, but not anyone else,” he said.

He also said that the machine will only use the character of the fingerprint, not the entire impression, and no one else will have access to that machine except for school principal, Nelson Brown, and administrators at Central Office. A website will be available for parents to view and track bus locations in real-time.

Source: Madison County Record