MARIETTA, Ga. and IRVINE, Calif. — CalAmp (Nasdaq: CAMP), a connected intelligence company that helps people and businesses work smarter, today announced that student transportation leaders from one of the country’s most prominent and forward-looking school districts, which was recently included in a government study to better understand COVID-19 transmission in a school environment, said they’re relying on CalAmp’s Bus Guardian solution to intelligently conduct contact tracing.
Kimberly Ellis, Marietta School District Transportation Director, said their team is using CalAmp’s platform every day to respond proactively to the threat of COVID-19.
“We absolutely rely on the Bus Guardian software every single day to respond to cases and be sure we are sharing the most accurate information with our leadership and our community,” Ellis said. “We appreciate the capability and know it will provide us tremendous value even after we’ve put COVID behind us.”
The school district was part of a major study conducted recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was featured on a March episode of the CBS News program, 60 Minutes, as well as several Atlanta area media outlets.
“Our role in the CDC study has been a great opportunity for our schools to be part of better understanding COVID and how it spreads, and it’s been huge for us to have the Bus Guardian system in place so the research team could include the school bus as part of the student’s daily journey,” Ellis said.
Outside of COVID tracking, Ellis said the transportation department uses the platform to also communicate with law enforcement and families in the event of an accident.
The district has installed CalAmp location monitoring units on nearly 100 buses as well as 12 district support vehicles, which immediately connects all of them to the CalAmp software solution.
The student ridership facet of Bus Guardian is also a powerful way to connect parents to younger children as they travel to and from school, sending multiple push notifications to parents as students board and depart their busses.
“This is what parents expect and in many cases demand of us,” Ellis said. “They want us to communicate as much as possible with them, and to have the technology to keep their kids safe. I don’t think you can measure the peace of mind this gives parents of young children knowing they are much less likely to get off at the wrong stop.”
Bus Guardian, developed by CalAmp’s subsidiary, Synovia Solutions, already serves more than 200 school districts across North America, including some of the largest and most dynamic across the Southeast.
Marietta also invested in a number of features and software modules focused on improving efficiency:
Time and Attendance – allows drivers to clock-in remotely at their assigned buses and receive real-time updates on their routes throughout the day
Engine Diagnostics – captures real-time engine and vehicle status, helping prevent costly breakdowns leading to improved management of fleet assets and maintenance facilities
Pre- & Post-Trip Inspections – allows drivers to manage inspections from their in-cab tablets, minimizing paperwork and streamlining the inspection process
“We’re pleased to earn the trust of the team at Marietta Schools and look forward to working with them to provide the safest, most convenient school bus experience for their community,” said Bill Westerman, vice president of product management for CalAmp.
Additionally, CalAmp named its first ever Bus Guardian Hero on April 22, 2021 when it awarded Tim Cribley from Hudsonville Public Schools in Michigan for his commitment to student safety and work supporting local food banks around Grand Rapids.
About Marietta City Schools
Marietta City Schools is a Charter System that serves 8,900 students at eight elementary choice schools, one of which is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Magnet school; one sixth-grade school, one middle school (7/8), and one high school. MCS is the first International Baccalaureate (IB) World School District in Georgia.
About CalAmp
CalAmp (Nasdaq: CAMP) is a connected intelligence company that helps people and businesses work smarter. We partner with transportation and logistics, industrial equipment, government and automotive industries to deliver insights that enable businesses to make the right decisions. Our applications, platforms and smart devices allow them to track, monitor and recover their vital assets with real-time visibility that reduces costs, maximizes productivity and improves safety. Headquartered in Irvine, California, CalAmp has been publicly traded since 1983. We have 22 million products installed and over 1.3 million software and services subscribers worldwide. For more information, visit calamp.com, or LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or CalAmp Blog.
