The Binghamton City School District is making every effort to ensure eligible students have access to reliable transportation to and from school. The nationwide shortage of school bus drivers is impacting districts around the country, including ours. We are very fortunate to have the amount of bus drivers that we currently have. Unfortunately, if two or more drivers are unable to work, adjustments may have to be made, including delays, change in buses or temporary shifts to remote learning. We will communicate any changes to instruction to our school community as early as possible.
One of the tools the district has adopted to help parents learn about transportation delays is the
FirstView bus tracking app that can be accessed through your smartphone or desktop computers. The app features live tracking and shows you the location of your child’s bus. It also shows daily stop schedules with time stamps. This app also allows parents to get push or email notifications alerting you when your student’s bus is a chosen distance or number of minutes away from your stop. You can connect up to three additional emails to allow grandparents or caregivers to have access to this information.
How to get started:
Download the FirstView® Parent App
Find FirstView® in the App Store or Google Play. Follow the instructions to download the app to your smartphone. You can also access the Parent App in your
browser at web.firstviewapp.com
Set up your profile
Open the app and begin the registration process. You’ll be asked to:
Select State/Province
Select District
You’ll then be prompted to REGISTER using an email confirmation with a link to your account.
Add your student
Login and select Profile to “Add A Student.” Add your student with his/her student ID which is printed on your child’s report card or can be found in the Parent Portal. If you have questions regarding your student’s ID please contact your main office. Once you select “Done” you will be able to see stop information in your Profile. You may track multiple student’s stops.
Set notifications
Go to Settings and select “Notification Recipients” to add email notifications for up to three recipients, including yourself. You can also edit your Profile or follow another student’s stop. Alerts and notifications from your district or the bus depot will appear here.
Set up time and distance alerts
To set up alerts for when the bus is a certain time or distance away, go to Profile and select your student. You can set alerts for both AM and PM dispatch. These alerts will be displayed under Notifications in the menu. *To receive push notifications, you must allow your mobile device to receive notifications from the FirstView® app. You will be prompted upon downloading the app or you can confirm/update your settings within your phone’s app settings.
Last week was National School Bus Safety Week, and I’m pleased to inform you of a new safety feature on First Student buses. All buses are equipped with stop arm cameras, which capture video recordings of illegally-passing motorists and their vehicles. This documentation makes it possible to ticket these drivers. This is an important step to making the journey to and from school safer for our students.
For those families whose children walk to and from school, we encourage you to consider the
walking routes, which are posted here. They take into consideration the location of the Binghamton Police Department crossing guards.
Any questions related to transportation may be directed to Margaret McGarry, Director of Attendance and Pupil Personnel Services at 607-762-8118.