With 28,000 students and over 300 bus drivers in the Newport News, VA school district, managing the transportation department can be a huge undertaking. That's why Shay Coates, Director of Transportation for Newport News Public Schools, depends on Issuetrak to keep things running smoothly every day.
For over 10 years, Issuetrak has been Coates' go-to software for bus incidents, driver reports, employee onboarding, and more. Matters involving students -- especially student safety -- require a fast, accurate, and easy-to-use solution. Issuetrak fills that need for Newport News Public Schools by helping to solve their biggest transportation issues everyday.
Issuetrak Simplifies Complex Tracking
The transportation department logs and responds to dozens of issues every day -- anything from accident reports to parent complaints to requests for footage from the buses' onboard cameras. Employees input these issues into Issuetrak, where they can easily be assigned out to other members of the department and escalated when necessary. Automatic notifications alert coworkers when it's their turn to respond so no issue lingers untouched for too long.
Issuetrak directly handles accident reporting for the school district. Once someone inputs the details of the incident, it's easy to share the information with anyone who needs to see it. A Quick Pick populates fields for the driver to fill out, ensuring that every detail gets captured for both insurance and for the school's records.
Issuetrak also handles student returns, which can happen frequently due to the district's "yellow card" system. This system requires parents and guardians to present a yellow card to the bus driver to receive their child. Without a yellow card, students get returned to school and an incident report gets written and submitted into Issuetrak for review.
"This could be 40 to 50 kids a day," says John Payne, Data Analyst for the school district. The yellow cards ensure students are matched safely with their proper guardians, and Issuetrak reports track the frequency of these incidents so the district can make changes and look into problems as necessary.
Visibility into Key Tracking Issues
Issuetrak helps Newport News Public Schools operate more efficiently by providing an extra layer of visibility within the transportation department, allowing department leaders and others to see exactly who performed what task at what time on each issue.
"You never know who's going to get a parent calling to complain," says Payne. No matter who picks up the phone, the employee can easily look up the issue within Issuetrak and, in a matter of moments, know exactly where the issue lives in the queue and how much work has gone into its resolution.
When employees go out on sick leave or vacation, the department doesn't worry that operations will grind to a halt -- anyone can easily jump in and fill their shoes until they return.
Issuetrak also speeds up processes by eliminating the need for employees to constantly be in contact with one another. Attachments, notes, notifications, automation, and a host of other features provide plenty of information within the issue itself so that when it gets passed onto the next agent, little to no discussion is needed.
For school district transportation issue and complaint tracking, Issuetrak proves to be Newport News's most effective solution. The power of Issuetrak helps tens of thousands of students to and from their places of education every day!
Topics from this blog: Complaint Management Education Transportation Customer Stories
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