School BUSRide JANUARY 2021 | Page 14

O F F I C I A L School BUSRide Field Test

Carroll County secures real-time communications with GPSLock box and FirstNet

By Richard Tackett
With the responsibility of moving more than 24,000 students each day in Maryland , safe and reliable communication is of paramount concern to transportation officials at Carroll County Public Schools . This year , despite COVID-19 , the district ’ s transportation department began a major initiative to upgrade its communications system – which previously relied on drivers using traditional consumer cell phones . “ The system we were using previously was just not effective – in the case of an emergency , a driver would need to pull over to answer a cell call ,” said Anita Stubenrauch , supervisor of operational performance at Carroll County Public Schools . “ It delayed emergency management and weatherresponse , and really presented a problem if we needed to locate a child . The lack of real-time vehicle location and driver communications really frustrated our operations .”
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