AUSTIN, TX — After a majority of voters rejected Keller ISD’s tax ratification election in June, regular bus transportation, free transportation to and from school for students outside a two-mile radius of their campus, was one of the items designated for reduction. Rather than eliminate the program, the Keller ISD Board directed KISD administration to explore the possibilities of a fare-based transportation system, in which families could pay for their students to continue riding the bus.
“Keller ISD’s innovative pay-for-ride system will operate in much the same way as a city bus pass. Families will pay up-front for a pass – either monthly or by the semester,” said Superintendent Dr. James Veitenheimer. “Keller ISD remains committed to providing exceptional educational opportunities for all students. While we understand that the lack of free transportation puts a greater burden on our families, we remain dedicated to making sure that students are able to make it to school safely, every day and on time. If a student shows up at the bus stop and has not paid, he or she will not be turned away.”
Designed specifically for school districts, Radiant RFID’s student accountability solution can be deployed as individual modules or as a complete suite of applications including a school bus tracking & manifesting module, classroom attendance module, access control module, asset tracking module, cafeteria sales module and emergency management module.
“Working closely with our transportation partner Durham School Services, Radiant RFID has developed a registration and payment portal at http://www.busrideonline.com for parents to pay online using a credit card or debit card prior to the start of school,” said Chief Technology Officer Joe Griffin, “and Radiant will issue student ID cards with embedded RFID tags to student bus riders for all 72 regular routes for the 2011-2012 school year.”
“Using RFID tags and readers, our bus tracking/manifesting module can ensure students are on the correct bus, provide an instant manifest of bus riders if needed, send text and email notifications and can include bus stop information with each tag read as students enter and exit the bus,” said Kenneth Ratton, President of Radiant RFID. Radiant’s student accountability solution also provides enhanced safety benefits as it can monitor students near or in the vicinity of a bus and even ensure no students are left behind on a bus.
Combined with Motorola’s FX 7400 readers, Radiant RFID’s innovative platform detects directionality of student on or off the bus, reads multiple RFID tags at once, uses standard Gen 2 protocol and stores and forwards RFID tag reads and associated data when communication is not available. Radiant’s solution also enables asset tracking using RFID as well as student accountability with one affordable, modern and integrated RFID solution.
About Keller Independent School District
Keller Independent School District is one of the fastest growing school systems in one of the fastest growing areas in America employing more than 3,600 and with an annual budget of more than $200 million. It continues to attract more families, large corporations and small businesses. In fact, Keller ISD is now the largest school district in Northeast Tarrant County, having tripled its student enrollment over the past 15 years, growing from 10,000 to more than 32,000 kids. Keller ISD provides educational opportunities to students in an area of 51 square miles serving portions of the cities of Colleyville, Fort Worth, Haltom City, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Southlake, Watauga, Westlake and Keller. Learn more at http://www.kellerisd.net.
About Durham School Services
Durham School Services is a leading provider of student transportation consistently recognized for its outstanding safety record. Durham partners with school districts in 30 states and operates a fleet of nearly 13,500 buses. Our success rests with our dedicated employees who live our mission: “Getting kids to school safe, on time, and ready to learn.” For more information, visit http://www.durhamschoolservices.com.
About Radiant RFID
Radiant RFID provides complete solutions using RFID technology. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Radiant’s customers include corporations, K-12 school districts, universities and government agencies. Radiant’s solutions are designed specifically around the areas of RFID asset tracking, student accountability and school bus tracking, access control, emergency preparedness and evacuation management. For more information, call (512) 351-4915 or visit Radiant’s website at http://www.radiantrfid.com.
