April 23, 2024
Earlier this year, MCPS announced that their school bus tracking app would be launched this semester and that the Pilot was underway with families at 10 schools.
Last week, MCPS issued a statement about the cancellation of the release of the bus tracking app. In this letter, they said that “the tested mobile application contained a vulnerability that could potentially expose student information. With this knowledge, even though no MCPS student data or information was exposed at any time, it was apparent that the piloted application could not meet our expectations. As a result, we have made the decision to end this specific pilot program.”
Which brings us to this MPIA response from MCPS dated April 17, 2024 which states that “MCPS paid a total of $755,885 to Education Logistics, Inc. for all bus tracking related expenditures”
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$487,635 of the cost was the purchase and installation of new GPS devices on buses which continue to be used by MCPS Department of Transportation to better track bus locations and other key details.
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$288,250 of the cost was for the parent portal software which it seems was part of the pilot program scrapped.
It is unclear if MCPS will continue to work with this company or other vendors but it does seem that they will continue to look into solutions to provide families real time bus tracking information per The MoCo Show article:
“We want you to know that we are continuing to pursue options to allow families to monitor bus locations in real time. This will include exploring alternative solutions and technologies that align with our commitment to providing safe and efficient transportation services for our students while also ensuring data security. We will keep you informed as we proceed in this regard.”
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