Carrsville Elementary will pilot a new cellphone app this spring designed to allow parents to track their child’s school bus in real time.

Isle of Wight County Schools already contracts with Seattle-based software developer Zonar to keep track of its more than 60 buses while they’re on the road. Demario McFann, an account executive with Zonar, briefed the School Board on March 13 on “MyView,” which would extend that viewing capability to parents.

“It eliminates the phone calls that you’re getting from parents that are asking where the bus is at,” McFann said.

The app would only work at certain times of day when buses are going to and from the school to student bus stops.

“Information will be sent out by the school about how to sign up,” said IWCS Transportation Coordinator Matthew Fike.

If the pilot program goes well, IWCS will expand MyView divisionwide. That $14,000 expansion is included in the $86 million 2025-26 general fund budget the School Board adopted on March 18.

The only drawback is the system presently doesn’t allow the division to tell which students actually board or disembark a bus. That’s a function that McFann said could be added in the future through “Z-pass.”

“Z-pass,” which is not presently in the 2025-26 budget, would use radio frequency identification, or RFID, card-readers on buses where students would swipe an ID card when boarding and leaving, McFann said. It would integrate with the MyView app to give parents the ability to see when their child scans on or off a bus.

“The parents can get alerts on their phones via email or via text,” McFann said.