WATERFORD – Parents of students who ride buses to Waterford High School will soon be able to estimate their arrival time at their home for pickup or drop off through an app, principal Suellen Coleman said during Wolf Creek Local Schools Board of Education meeting Monday evening.
“Stop Finder is an app that parents can get to see where the buses are and when they should arrive there,” she said.
Coleman said the plan is to launch Stop Finder once students return from Spring Break on April 2. Coleman asked a representative of Transfinder, the app developer, if she could do a soft launch first but was told she needed to do so all at once.
Boardmember Scott Lang asked Coleman how the launch would be announced to parents. She replied that a mass email should be sent out and she would make a Facebook post. She would also send a paper home with students.
Coleman said she had been working on the launch since July 2023. She has had to program each student’s bus route to the school manually, which has been a lot of work.
“It’s been a long road,” she said.
Superintendent Doug Baldwin commended Coleman on her efforts to coordinate the Stop Finder launch.
“I want to put out kudos to Mrs. Coleman,” he said. “There were several others that watched the webinar and sales pitch. She has taken this on. … Some of those routes she’s never been on, but she knows where every stop is and how to turn around.”
Baldwin said he thinks once Stop Finder is live, the app will provide parents the peace of mind to know where their student’s bus is located.
During the public forum, junior Wade Brooks asked the board if they would consider replacing the windows to the baseball team’s locker room.
“Some of the windows have been broken in years past, and never have been properly replaced. For example, they’ve been taped up or put yard sides in them for makeshift windows,” he said.
Brooks said in the previous school year, the baseball team had laid down turf in their locker room for more padding. He said when it rains, mold could develop on the padding. Brooks said he had been a member of the baseball team for three years and he was concerned about the state of the windows.
“In years prior, some of the windows have been spray painted for privacy while we change. I think it’s an unprofessional look. As a baseball team, we used our funds to tint the windows ourselves,” he said.
Baldwin advised Brooks to stop by his office within the next few days and they would discuss potential next steps. Brooks said he would.
Brooks said he was pleased with the board’s response and they seemed to want to help the team.
The board went into executive session for negotiations at 6:55 p.m. Board president Hugh Arnold said no action would be taken and the board would adjourn the meeting once they were done.