Brooke Wood shows the Student Ridership Tracking Z Pass École Notre Dame Elementary School students will be using this fall.
by Lucie Roy
Student safety was the focus of two sessions at École Notre Dame Elementary School Aug. 26. Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools demonstrated the new Student Ridership Tracking Z Pass that students will be using when they get on and off the bus this fall.
Each student will have a ZPass card they will carry and tap on a ZPass reader when they board or exit their school bus. The school bus, time, date and location will be transmitted to a secure database. The information will assist schools and parents with real time answers if a student gets on the wrong bus or exists at the wrong stop. The Z Pass does not carry personal information, only a six-digit code.
The ZPass system was one of the demonstrations held at the school during the First Riders Program Aug. 26.
Notre Dame’s new Principal, Raymonde Roulston; Greater St Albert Catholic School Transportation Supervisor, Lauri-Ann Turnbull; bus drivers Vickie and Brian Tompkins, and Georgie Davies; and Leslie Carrie, Operations Supervisor for Student Canada were all on hand to provide presentations on bus safety.
Students were shown a safety video and taken outside where they were instructed on how to wait for the bus, how to get on and off using handrails and the ZPass card, and some general information about crosswalk safety blind spots.
The event was a joint venture between Greater St. Albert Catholics Schools and Student Canada.