Associate Superintendent of Facilities and Operations Dr. Eric Cunningham said the two-way radio system will serve as a model for other systems that the school district plans to install later down the road. “We are really impressed with this system and the capabilities it provides.” Cunningham said. “Use of this system on our buses is foundational, but it can be expanded for additional layers of communication based on our needs. While we can’t predict what all of our future needs will be, this system is a proactive measure and it will not be impacted by outside factors.”
Using the two-way radio system, the NRMPS Transportation department can communicate directly with the 153 total buses in the fleet. Director of Transportation Binford Sloan said this system will make it easier to keep track of where buses are and what they need at all times. “Prior to this system, we were communicating with bus drivers using cell phones,” Sloan said. “Now we have a way to communicate between buses, from the bus garage to particular buses, or zones of buses, or to the entire fleet at one time. It’s a safer way of reaching our bus drivers and is another layer of protection for students.”
Sloan said that nearly two-thirds of school districts across the state are using similar systems. Earlier this year the school district’s bus communication infrastructure was transferred from the Nextel network to the Sprint network, and that transition provided the perfect opportunity to begin planning for the installation.
The systems will also be used to help bus drivers communicate directly with first responders in the event of an emergency situation. Bus drivers received initial training on the system during their annual in-service event, but training will be ongoing.
Cunningham is confident that as the system successfully meets the needs of the transportation department, that opportunities to expand will become reality, as funding becomes available. “We are already exploring how we can take this system to fully encompass communication at the schools,” said Cunningham. “As funding becomes available, we could expand our channels so that principals could use the system throughout their school campuses and near the perimeters. From the district-level, we could use the system on a single frequency to communicate with all schools simultaneously.”
The school system is also utilizing real-time GPS systems on all buses, so buses can be easily tracked at all times. These systems have been in place for nearly 10 years, and since 2012, have been linked to an online transportation portal for parents.
At the opening of this school year, the Transportation department used the online portal to encourage parents to check their bus routes prior to the start of school. “The transportation portal reflects the information from our GPS system, so this year we set a deadline for students to request transportation,” said Sloan. “Bus routes were constantly changing, prior to the opening of school, so we planned for a 48-hour window for processing. In most cases, we were able to process the requests in less time than that. The system helped make for an overall smooth opening.”
Using the new GPS system, the NRMPS Transportation department has been able to stretch fuel dollars, by examining and eliminating unnecessary bus stops to maximize efficiency.
“We have roughly the same number of students being transported now as we did four or five years ago,” said Cunningham. “We are thinking differently in the operations department and we capitalize on every opportunity to maximize our efficiencies. Mr. Sloan and his staff have been the trendsetters for this, and other school districts across the state are following our lead.”
The GPS technology has allowed NRMPS to cut the bus fleet by nearly 50 buses over the past three years. Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools received the Trailblazer Award from the North Carolina Pupil Transportation Association for the GPS Systems.
Cunningham said that the GPS and two-way radios are just the beginning of the Operations team’s commitment to efficiency. “As the operations team, we play a critical role in removing as many managerial responsibilities as possible, in an effective manner, so that our principals and educators can focus on instruction and preparing our students for the future.”
