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New system at Weslaco ISD allows parents to track bus routes

1 year 7 months 2 days ago Monday, August 15 2022 Aug 15, 2022 August 15, 2022 8:33 PM August 15, 2022 in News

Weslaco Independent School District's transportation department is setting up a new tracking system to help give parents a peace of mind when sending their child off to school.

A small purple card called a Z-Pass or a Zonar Pass Card will be given to Weslaco ISD students ranging from pre-k to fifth grade.

The purple card will be scanned on a card reader as they get in the bus.

"They'll show on the computer screen that the student already has boarded the bus," Transportation Manager Weslaco ISD Hector Gonzalez said. "The same thing will happen when they're exiting the bus."

The student's data will show up under the zonar z-pass tracking software at the district's transportation headquarters, tracking the students location on their assigned school bus in real time.

"We have two different students, last name, got all the information," Weslaco ISD Assistant Route Supervisor Ralphel Reyna said. "It's got information from what school, and gives us a time when they punched in and punched out."

The district's transportation manager is working alongside personnel troubleshooting and testing the z-pass system.

It has already been installed on more than 50 buses. Bus drivers are anticipating registering more than 2,500 students into the system.

"We want to be aware of where the children are at all times," Gonzalez said. 'If a parent calls with a concern of where The student is, we can always go ahead and look up on the system."

As the district wraps up program testing this week, they're working on expanding the application to smartphones for parents where they can download the z-pass app and get notifications via text message on when and where their child gets off the bus. That's expected to be ready sometime this fall.

Watch the video above for the full report. 

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