PGCPS outlines Chipmunk rollout, targets March 27 sunset for Stopfinder

Prince George’s County Public Schools officials told the Parent and Community Advisory Council on March 4 that the district is mid‑rollout of Chipmunk, a new parent bus‑tracking app intended to give families real‑time location and notification features.

"Our purpose is to provide real‑time updates, improve transparency and parent trust, and support operational efficiency through proactive communications," said Shrozka Coleman, chief operating officer and lead on transportation, noting the district phased the system in starting last September for its most vulnerable routes. Coleman said Chipmunk offers a live map, route/stop visibility, ETA summaries that are still being refined, and customizable alerts for delays and cancellations.

Coleman told members the district currently has about 14,910 Chipmunk subscribers while transporting roughly 85,000 students systemwide, and urged PCAC leaders to help promote the app to their school communities. "We did a phased rollout by bus lot and we’ve seen steady improvement; now we need to drive usership so more families receive GPS and push‑notification updates," she said.

Council members pressed the team on logistics and access. Coleman said families must sign up through ParentVUE (the same email links the ParentVUE account to Chipmunk) and pointed to multilingual support materials (English, Spanish, French), a two‑minute how‑to video, a downloadable user guide and brochure, and an online help bot. She described two support channels for issues: an in‑app "send feedback" option that goes to the vendor and the district, and the transportation TRS ticketing system; Coleman said the team tries to acknowledge incoming tickets within 48 hours and that full resolution can take up to a week while cases are investigated.

The team also committed to a phased transition off the legacy Stopfinder app. "We are targeting March 27 to sunset Stopfinder and move everyone to Chipmunk," Coleman said, adding that weekly communications will push remaining Stopfinder users to download Chipmunk and that principals will receive school‑level breakdowns of current Chipmunk adoption so they can encourage families.

PCAC members urged the transportation team to provide a school‑by‑school breakdown of subscribers and to set 30‑ and 90‑day adoption goals. Coleman agreed to share that breakdown and to work with parent leaders to drive sign‑ups. She also noted Chipmunk will inherit a user’s phone language settings to provide messages in Spanish or French where appropriate.

The presentation closed with an ask from transportation staff for PCAC's help in promoting Chipmunk to reach substantially more parents, and an explanation that the app’s ETA feature remains under refinement but that the platform’s geofence and live‑map features are already useful for families.

Next steps: district staff said they will continue school outreach, distribute multilingual materials and guides, and send weekly notices to Stopfinder subscribers about the March 27 sunset.