BackSchool Districts Implement KidGopher Child Pick Up System to Improve Student Safety
17 Feb 2011
It is easy to remember the exciting feeling of watching the clock tick down to the last minute of the school day. The doors swing open and hundreds of students come racing outside, either to wait in line for the school bus or to find Mom’s minivan parked somewhere along the curb. But what happens next? How can parents and school teachers be sure that every child gets home safely that afternoon?
CQ Media Networks, partnered with Juniper Systems, has designed and produced an innovative and secure child pick up system that ensures order and safety during the most stressful time of the school day. By incorporating specialty software, a rugged handheld computer with an RFID scanner (Archer Field PC®), a tablet display, and digital signage, KidGopher Secure Child Pick Up System is now working with five school districts that include up to 200 elementary schools for future implemenation.
The following process has been set up in order to allow KidGopher to work seamlessly with any elementary school. A guardian who is authorized to pick up a child from school has their photo taken and is issued a “Gopher” card, which contains RFID information and indicates what students he or she is allowed to pick up from school. This information is entered into the student’s KidGopher account by a school administrator. KidGopher accounts utilize encrypted technology with secure user logins, therefore reducing the chance that the information can be hacked or manipulated.
So where does a rugged handheld computer like the Archer Field PC® come into play? At the time of pick up, a teacher or school administrator greets the driver in line and, using the Archer with RFID scanner, scans the Gopher card which then displays a list of students eligible for pickup, along with a photo of the guardian for verification. The teacher selects which students are being picked up and that information is transferred wirelessly to digital displays in a central waiting area (where students are gathered after school is dismissed). When a student’s name appears on the digital display, he or she joins a line where a teacher guides each student to the appropriate vehicle. Another teacher is assigned to work in the loading area where he or she uses a tablet display that automates the students’ names and photos in the same sequence as the students in line. As this teacher successfully loads each student into the appropriate vehicle, he or she will use the tablet to indicate that the student was sent off in the correct vehicle, which creates an electronic record of the time and date of pick up. This record can be emailed or sent as a text message to parents who wish to be notified when their child has been picked up from school.
“KidGopher is the first of its kind in enabling the highest level of safety in the child pickup process,” said Neil Willis, CEO of CQ Media Networks. “This technology was inspired by educators in South Carolina and designed in close partnership with school administrators seeking the highest level of security combined with the most efficient process of handling student pickup. Best of all, this technology is very affordable for school districts and offers a number of other benefits…”
The Archer Field PC® is an essential component of the KidGopher Secure Pick Up System. All imperative information begins with the Archer, which makes it all the more important for the handheld to be rugged and reliable. The Archer can withstand heavy precipitation and four foot drops onto concrete, but still fits comfortably in the hand of the user. The Windows Mobile® operating system is familiar, simple to navigate, and easy to use, even for the newest of users.
Neil continued by saying, “After putting together the concept and some basic code [for KidGopher], we set out to find a hardware partner that would provide the perfect tool for scanning the Gopher Cards. We talked to several consumer device companies and did not find a solution that met the requirements of both CQ Media and the elementary schools. Then one day while searching on the internet, I found Juniper Systems and the Archer Field PC®. By looking at the online presentation, it looked like the Archer would fit our needs, but I wanted to speak to someone to be sure. I made my confirmation phone call and expected the general voicemail. Not only did I speak to a sales person on my first call, I spoke with an engineer to discuss the specifics about the Kid Gopher solution, and within a short period of time, I was able to provide the necessary information about the Archer to my development team. Since that first phone call, our business relationship has stated strong and I look forward to years of the rewarding partnership between Juniper Systems and CQ Media Networks.”
For more detailed information regarding KidGopher Secure Child Pick Up System, visit www.kidgopher.com or call 864-486-0746.
For more information on the Archer Field PC® and other Juniper Systems rugged handheld computers and solutions, please visit www.junipersys.com or call 435-753-1881.
