Zonar interviews two parents in a Kentucky school district about how they are using the MyView app.
First, we spoke to a mother with six children.
Question: So prior to learning about my view and everything, what was your experience like just on, especially with six kids on a daily basis trying to keep track of them?
Answer: OK, so this is kind of a two-part answer. The first is just having so many kids. I had three different schools to juggle. So elementary, middle and high school, which means three different bus schedules. Now, the high schoolers could pretty much take care of themselves. The middle schoolers, especially the boys I noticed, would lag a little bit. And then the elementary school kids, I really had to be on top of. So it’s a full morning.
And it was kind of a revolving door. The second part is that at least in our county, and I’m not sure if it’s nationwide, but there is a huge bus driver shortage. So what I found was they would be doubling the bus routes and bless their hearts, the schools tried to give us as much information as they could, but sometimes there was a gap in knowledge and my kids would be waiting outside for half an hour, which isn’t a bad thing. Except if it’s super cold. And then I just, I would feel bad for him. So ended up happening as we started just driving our kids and then that there was a bottleneck of traffic. So it really started to become a big problem. And then we got the app and it was everything was just resolved overnight.
The school district sent a district wide e-mail, asking is there anyone that is willing to participate in a beta testing and so I emailed them right back. It was like “yes please. I would love to beta test this. It sounds amazing.” And so I did and it was and it was great.
The way I use the app now is that I actually set it on my window sill in the kitchen and so while I’m cleaning up breakfast, I can just watch as the bus moves and then if I’m busy and I’m not paying attention, it pushes notifications and it dings and I just know right then that the bus is in route and in my zone and so I can send my kids up. And it was very seamless. They never missed the bus, they never were waiting very long. It was just amazing.
As a mom, that really makes a big difference because the first thing in the morning you really don’t want to send your kid out either running for the bus or waiting for the bus for half an hour. It really does start their day out, kind of on a on a poor note. So as a parent, I’m sure all parents would agree. You really want to start that kids day out on the right foot and MyView helps with that.
A father in the same county has a 3rd grade daughter who suffers from anxiety. Here’s how MyView helps this family:
Different types of things that affect her routine and anything that’s outside of that is can be a little bit chaotic for her. So if the bus is late, if she wakes up late, if for whatever reason, something is messed up in her morning. It is a bit chaotic in our home and so before MyView, there were some days where we had a lot of issues where, as a parent, it was rough.
Not knowing when the bus would come, we’d always be trying to rush. She likes to relax a little bit before school starts. She has to have that downtime to where she can read a book or eat her breakfast without having to rush or choke on it or whatever before we walk out the door.
MyView allows us to chill out a little bit and give us time. I can get on the app and know where the bus is to where I don’t have to rush her. I can actually look at it and say, “Let’s go ahead and get dressed and get your socks and shoes on. Let’s pick out a book.” I know how much longer we have, and I know when that we can stop. So it makes for a much smoother morning for us and it’s not so chaotic.
The district is great about communicating driver or route changes with us. So they let us know if there’s going to be a second run or that the bus is going to be X amount of minutes late, which is so vital for me. Because again, with our child having that type of anxiety, she has to be prepared for a new bus driver. She might see a different style of leadership on that bus when she rides on it.
That makes for a better day for her, and I’m not seeing behavioral issues from the teacher like I had been before. If it was a chaotic morning, she’s going to go to school and her social and emotional behavior could dominate the rest of her time at school. So I want to make sure that whatever happens in the morning, she has a calm and collected day. Iff that means that it’s from the MyView app, then that’s what it is. So we try to make it as easy as possible on and MyView makes the timing and getting her there easier. We aren’t stressing out to where we’re yelling and and saying, “we need to get out the door and get your coat on.” We have time to prepare and plan. That’s changed a lot of things for us.
Learn more about MyView and how it can help you by visiting www.zonarsystems.com
