Tooele County School District buses will begin sporting business logos this fall as they take students to and from school.
The Tooele County School Board approved an agreement Tuesday with the Child Safety Network Safe Bus Program, which is a San Diego, California-based non-profit organization that has developed a national school bus safety program.
The Child Safety Network will recruit sponsors for the school district’s 93 buses at $4,000 per bus for a two-year commitment. Sponsorship dollars will go to CSN, which in exchange will provide safety training, including an anti-bullying program for school bus drivers.
CSN’s Safe Bus program will also provide the district with route guidance hardware, including a GPS tracking system for buses, and fleet management software. CSN will also make and install sponsor logos onto the buses.
The combination of software and hardware is expected to help the district create more efficient routes and reduce expenses related to transportation while allowing district officials to monitor driver performance for increased safety and security for students, according to Wynn Porter, TCSD transportation director.
“This is a good deal for the district,” he said. “The Child Safety Network recruits the sponsors and then provides us with the training programs and the technology hardware and software. There is no expense to the district.”
In addition to the technology that allows district officials to see both historical and real time data on a bus’s location, speed, and other operating conditions, the Safe Bus program comes with software that will let parents opt in to receive information as to when their student has arrived at the bus stop after school, or after a school activity, by either smart phone app, text message, or email, Porter said.
“We can also use the software to verify a driver’s performance,” he said. “When we get a call about a bus being off route, or a driver going too fast, we can look up the information on that bus.”
CSN does not guarantee sponsorships and the installation of hardware is dependent on sponsorships, according to Rick Perry, CEO of the CSN Safe Bus program.
“We have some sponsors in mind that we have worked on a national basis and we have also met with district officials and discussed potential local sponsors,” he said.
The intent is to recruit sponsors that will get recognition for helping with the safety program. The program is not designed for businesses that want to target children for marketing their products, according to Perry.
The district retains the right to approve individual sponsors.
It’s hard to imagine a down side to a deal like this, said Tooele County School District Superintendent Scott Rogers.
“The company does all the work. They recruit the sponsors and then pay for the installation of the hardware and they do the training,” he said. “The district has no financial obligation, but we get safer buses and drivers and reduced expenses.”