Q&A
Council member inquires about GPS tracking app accessibility for private special needs schools
1:42:02
·
173 sec
Council Member Erik Bottcher raises concerns about the accessibility of the GPS tracking app for parents of students in private special needs schools. John Benson from the Office of Pupil Transportation clarifies that all schools, including non-public ones, can use the app, but there might be communication issues.
- Benson explains the process for non-public schools to grant access to parents
- Bottcher suggests re-issuing communication about the app's availability to address misunderstandings
- The DOE agrees to reach out to schools needing support and to improve communication about the app's accessibility
Erik Bottcher
1:42:02
Good morning.
1:42:05
Wanna ask you about the GPS tracking app and the ability of parents in private special needs schools to utilize the app.
1:42:16
I'm hearing from parents locally that you can only track your kid's bus if your kid is listed as your child on the New York City schools account website.
1:42:29
And you can only list your child if you get a code from your child's school.
1:42:36
I'm being told that the the students of private special needs schools have no such codes.
1:42:46
Is is this accurate and is this an issue with which you're familiar?
1:42:53
Yes.
John Benson
1:42:53
And thank you for the question.
1:42:54
I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this publicly because that has been a really stubborn talking point over the years about the GPS application.
1:43:02
There's the talking point that's out there that we've excluded non public schools and the parents of the children that attend them from being able to use this application.
1:43:10
It has never been true and it's not true.
1:43:12
There's a process for these schools to grant New York City School's account access to the parents of their children.
1:43:18
That is what's required for them to then be able to track the app.
1:43:20
They use the same credentials in the New York City School's account to log in to the via application and track their child's bus.
1:43:27
That's a school driven process.
1:43:28
Once they carry that process out, the parents can log in to the via application and track their child's bus the same way charter and public school parents can do throughout the city.
Erik Bottcher
1:43:38
There seems to be a disconnect somewhere Yep.
1:43:42
In which this Private special needs school isn't issuing the codes to the parent and doesn't appear to know that they can.
1:43:55
How can you communicate that and address that miscommunication?
John Benson
1:44:02
Yes.
1:44:03
Thank you for the question.
1:44:04
So we have tried to get ahead of that by communicating this out to all non public schools last year.
1:44:09
When we rolled the product out on January 19th.
1:44:11
There may be some turnover in staff, maybe some people didn't see emails.
1:44:15
So if you are aware of any schools that don't know about this and need support, I would encourage you to flag those directly to us.
1:44:21
We will have someone reach out to those schools tomorrow to go over the process.
Erik Bottcher
1:44:26
Maybe a good time to issue another communication.
1:44:29
You issued a communication last year.
1:44:32
It was a new product.
1:44:34
It's a new school year.
1:44:36
I think and, you know, perhaps even via social media channels, other ways of communicating to both parents and schools that private special needs parents are able to use this app and here's how they can do it.
John Benson
1:44:53
Sure.
Erik Bottcher
1:44:54
Thank you.
John Benson
1:44:54
We will.
1:44:55
Yep.
