WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A new communication tool is in the works that could help Wilson County parents track their child(ren) as they come home from school.

School officials said it could be a solution to communicating with parents as the district’s bus driver shortage looms and route times increase.

With the ongoing bus driver shortage in Wilson County, it might take a little longer for students to get home from school. However, school officials are working to bring a new app called “Here Comes The Bus” to the district.

“Peace of mind, you can’t put a price tag on it. Letting families know when their child is expected to arrive home, when they’re at school, when the pickup point is in the morning. Anything that can provide an added layer of peace of mind is always a good thing,” said Bart Barker, the public information officer for Wilson County Schools.

The Here Comes The Bus website and app enable parents to see the location of their child’s school bus on a smartphone, tablet, or personal computer. While the app has not officially launched yet in Wilson County, school officials said they are continuing discussions about the technology.

“Right now, it’s in the stage of a lot of logistics, planning, and looking at routes and getting that information uploaded. It does take some time to make sure it’s streamlined and will be good to use in the future,” said Barker. “Communication is very much in play between our district leadership, our transportation department.”

The service even allows access to unlimited accounts. That means grandparents, babysitters, neighbors, and friends can also share the data. School officials are still discussing what costs will be associated with purchasing the resource for the district.

“It was mentioned at our last board meeting to hopefully get this off the ground sometime during the spring semester coming up, once we turn that calendar over to 2024.”