Jim Thorpe Area School District’s board of directors approved a three-year contract Wednesday night with school bus routing software company Transfinder.

The contract calls for Jim Thorpe to pay $19,290 in the first year. The three-year total is s $36,510.

“This is a much better system than what we currently have and what we like about it is parents have the ability to download an app and track their child’s bus so they know where it is and if it’s running late,” Superintendent Robert Presley said.

According to the agreement, Transfinder provides the district and its transportation company, Brandywine Carbon Transportation,]with the ability to:

• Creating safe reliable routes

• Digitize field trip approvals and billing

• Navigate routes and track student ridership

• Manage driver performance through GPS comparative analysis.

Within the mobile app, staff can send out alerts to all students on a route, a portion of a route, a few bus stops, or in a specific neighborhood, etc.

Dennis McGinley was the only Jim Thorpe director to vote against the Transfinder contract.

“I’ve driven bus for 30 years and, speaking for myself personally, I won’t have a machine tell me what route I should go,” McGinley said.

McGinley said if a bus driver is going to sporting event, their main job is to get students there and back safely.

“I think the app is great for parents to track kids, but I don’t think the software should determine how I get somewhere,” he said. “I’ve also heard we don’t want buses using the turnpike. I think it’s the safest way of going somewhere. If you break down there, you have State Farm right on your tail as opposed to a back country road where you might not have cell service.”

Lori Lienhard, Jim Thorpe’s transportation director, said the district has nothing against using the turnpike, but would prefer Brandywine use an E-ZPass to avoid higher toll charges.

“We’ve asked them to get an E-ZPass,” Lienhard said. “We’re getting charged double right now because they don’t use one.”