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Parents praise First View bus-tracking app but flag notification, language and substitute-driver gaps
Summary
District staff previewed a YouTube-style guide to the First View bus-tracking app and showed geo-fencing/arrival alerts; parents said the app works well but fails when drivers or routes change and requested expanded language accessibility and guidance on changing routes after a notification.
Springfield Public Schools presented a family-facing video and supporting materials for First View, the district’s student transportation tracking app, and heard parent feedback about reliability and language access at a joint subcommittee meeting March 18.
District staff said the app can track buses in real time and offers geo-fencing alerts that notify families as a bus approaches. Pat Roach and transportation staff said the district has posted a short instructional video and PDF flyers in English and Spanish on the website.
Parents praised the app’s utility but described persistent problems when substitute drivers or last-minute route changes occur. “Up until there is an issue where there is a change in the bus… parents like myself are left wondering where is the bus,” parent and committee member Ms. Hurst said, requesting clearer guidance on how to change a tracked bus if a notification indicates a route change.
Staff response and fixes: Transportation staff said they are working with vendor First Student to improve how the app handles last-minute driver swaps and that some failures occur when routes double up or a last-minute change is not entered into the system. Staff agreed to add instructions to the video showing how parents can change a saved bus when they receive a notification.
Language access: Committee members asked whether the instructional video and materials can be provided in additional languages beyond English and Spanish. Staff said Spanish is currently available and that the district will add the top local languages — recommended by committee members as Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Somali or Swahili — and will update the video and flyers accordingly.
What’s next: Staff will revise the video to include steps for changing a bus after receiving a notification and explore adding the top four or five languages used by families. They will continue discussions with First Student about improving notifications and staffing-related gaps.
