GPS Tracks Schoolbus Kids

[American]

Link

Updated 4:29 PM CDT, Tue, Aug 31, 2010
In a bid to set parents' nerves at ease, a southwest suburban school district has become one of the first in the state to begin using GPS to track schoolchildren riding buses to and from school each day.
Palos Heights School District 128 had previously been using ZPass, a GPS technology provided by Seattle-based Zonar Systems, to track the buses. But now the district is outfitting students' backpacks with a luggage tag-sized unit that logs when the student steps on and off the bus.

"A little piece of mind helps you get through the day," says Ann O'Brien, a mother of four children in Palos Heights School District 128. "They can locate kid and bus in seconds."
O'Brien says as she watched her children board and exit school busses today, with the new ZPass cards attached to their backpacks.

Palos School Superintendent Kathleen Casey says the system helps alleviate parents' concerns.

"We can track the bus with the GPS, alleviate a parent's fear if they got on or off bus, look up their ID number and find out what bus and what time boarded or if still on or exited," she said.
The district spent $16,000 for the technology, which currently covers 10 buses. Parents say the cost is minimal for the benefits.

I think this is total bull****, and if parents want to track their kids let them buy the trackers. This is totally inappropriate for a school to do, and they present it as so matter-of-fact and as peace of mind. It's nuts.

 

[spud_meister]

****, I agree with you, this is utter crap, schools should not be able to track students.

 

[ludahai]

It should be up to the parents whether to opt into the program or not. It should never, EVER be forced on parents...

 

[Travelsonic]

I can bet that there will be apologists justifying the school using this without the parents having a say, many of whom fit in with the "anything for safety" crowd that allowed the TSA to mutate to the absolute hellhole it is today.

 

[danarhea]

What's the big deal? This is just big brother protecting us. They are also keeping us safe and warm by spying on us, infiltrating the Quakers, outlawing our guns, banning books in our libraries, and doing everything they can to keep America a nice and safe little ant farm.

 

[jamesrage]

IF the GPS is only on the bus itself I have no problem with this other than do the costs really justify it. Who ever decided to start sticking GPS on the children should be tarred and feathered. This is just a blatant attempt to get kids used to this sort of government intrusion.