Becker Public Schools Transportation Department strives to provide great experiences for students and families and has a number of features, training, and procedures to ensure a successful trip to any location.
Becker Public Schools currently transports 2,600 students a total of 443,797 miles per school year including in the morning, mid-day, shuttles, in the evening and field and activity trips.
Routes alone cover 319,443 miles.
This past week, Becker Public Schools participated in the state required bus evacuation drill. Students worked together to evacuate and learn proper procedures to handle emergencies on the bus.
Becker also has a few different opportunities for increased safety and security for families. The Elink, My Stop and Zpass are free for parents, increase safety and allow parents to view current transportation information of their student(s).
Elink
Elink has been in place since the 2016 school year. A parent is issued a login and password and can easily get to the login window through the transportation’s website to view their student current bus schedule through the school year.
Elink is used for instances such as if a parent submits a transportation request to change a home address or daycare, they would use Elink to find the new bus stop location and time information. This should be checked periodically throughout the year.
For Bus Stop Look Up, parents can login anytime and anywhere to access individual student transportation information, reducing phone call requests and saving time for both parents and school employees.
My Stop and Student Scan Card’s were offered to all parents in February of 2018.
My Stop
My Stop is the only mobile web browser application that knows each family and when the bus will get to each child’s stop. That’s because all available information comes directly from Versatrans Routing & Planning.
My Stop requires very little setup, especially for parents and guardians. Since usernames are tied to specific students, all a parent needs to do is login, even if it is for the first time. Both Elink and My Stop use your same login and password.
Student Scan Card/
Zpass
Parents can track when and where ones child gets on and off of the bus. This can be viewed in the My Stop application. A parent just needs to login and go to settings and turn on the scan function with My Stop. This gives parents “peace of mind” to know when, where and what location each scan takes place of your child. Currently a parent needs to request a Zpass card for their student(s) to the transportation department. The card is attached to a lanyard and updated, then it is brought over to the proper school to be issued out. The student just has to remember to have their card out and hold it by the Zpass scan box located in the step well of each bus when they are loading or unloading.
If one is interested in one of these ridership cards, email the transportation director at trisley@isd726.org with the title of the email “Zpass” and the following information: Student(s) name, current grade, parent name and parent’s email address.
Each of the school’s vehicles that haul students has a GPS unit and a Zpass scanner inside. The transportation department uses Onscreen to view live or historical bus movement. This allows for transportation to track locations, paths and speed of each of their vehicles. This data is stored and can be viewed for up to five years.
Onscreen also allows transportation and key staff to look up scanned cards if they need to locate a student (if they are scanning the card) to assist a parent in locating a student. Onscreen is used by transportation during route time to monitor routes, location of stops and the flow of routes. Onscreen is used to sit with the school’s drivers to review their route flow, stop locations, speed and times.
Transportation employees have also invested a considerable amount of time in various trainings throughout the year and in previous years. Aside from regular school district employee training, employees have received the following trainings specific to transportation:
• August 2019 – Transportation employees in-service training. Operation “Life Saver” covering all aspects and awareness of railroad crossing with commercial vehicles, over the road operations, special education, pre-trip’s on commercial vehicles, evacuation /accident practices, mirror checks and “know your stops” for driving routes.
• July 2019 – Five transportation employees participated in “Train the Trainer” held by MAPT on behind the wheel training of other drivers, School bus technician seminars, special education in transportation and transportation administration.
• June 2019 – Transportation employees participated in “Creating a safe and Respectful Environment on Our Nation’s School Buses”, dealing with bullying behaviors and understanding district practices dealing with these behaviors.
• October 2018 – Transportation employees participated in route training, bus evacuations with students on crutches, loading and unloading procedures, first aid review and the Smith System (the five key points to safe driving).
