SMART tags are a new form of identification MISD requires all bus riders to have. Students must scan their SMART tag when boarding and leaving a MISD bus. These tags connect to an app so a student’s guardian can monitor their child’s bus usage. Many students, parents, and bus drivers have complained about SMART tags, with most saying the tags are an overall nuisance that increase bus boarding and unloading times. Despite these negatives, SMART tags were introduced to increase safety, efficiency, and may be used for other purposes in the future.
SMART tags are useful tools for bus drivers, student guardians, and administrators. Assistant principal, Derek Odelusi, believes that SMART tags can make keeping track of students easier.
“SMART tags are being used to make the system more efficient of knowing what student rides what bus, not just that, it gives us the ability to have a better grasp on where students are and where they’re supposed to be, almost similar to like a school schedule that lets you know who is where and what they’re doing at what time,” said Odelusi.
SMART tags are a new addition to MISD as they were implemented in the 2024-2025 school year. Odelusi has seen SMART tags being successfully used in other districts, and believes that is why MISD started using them.
“They’re being implemented now because they’re growing. I know I was in a previous district before in Midlothian and they were using it as well. They saw how efficient it was, where drivers were able to know exactly where kids were supposed to go. You didn’t have any kind of miscommunications,” said Odelusi. “I know those things happen sometimes, but you also have to consider that these are lives that we’re responsible for. So if we can make a system that makes us better at tracking and knowing who’s where, it just makes us better.”
SMART tags aren’t limited to bus riders. Odelusi hopes every student can get a SMART tag ID because it would improve efficiency.
“SMART tags really are just for ease and efficiency. It just makes things a little bit easier. I also know that right now, the rollout was just for the bus portion of SMART tags, but probably as soon as next year, everyone will have a SMART tag to where it just combines with their photo ID, so that you know, everybody pretty much has a RFID chip for us to help locate them,” said Odelusi.
Even though the SMART tags improve security, they still cause some issues. Sophomore Isaac Chappel’s school bus is slowed down due to the new SMART tag policy, which upsets his bus driver.
“My bus driver gets really mad. He’s in the front of the line, so he wants to go faster, and since we take too long we have to wait like five minutes. It’s not really that big of a difference, but it’s still taking longer than it has before,” said Chappel.
SMART tags seem to follow a trend of increasing security in MISD as the district implements systems like the EVOLV weapon detector to keep students safe. Chappel believes these security measures are redundant.
“The EVOLV system makes sense, right? Because we know that works, I don’t get the SMART tags whatsoever. You already can’t get in the building. As far as I’m concerned, my bus driver has seen my face 1,000 times. He doesn’t need me to sign in with a tag,” said Chappel.
Multiple levels of security can feel oppressive to students, but it can serve an important purpose of comfort. Officer Peter Hartin believes extra security is good up to a point.
“I don’t want increase it so much that’s overbearing and it becomes like an intimidation factor to the kids or the parents, but I think it’s also it’s a nice reassurance for the parents when they see more officers on campus. The safety of their kids is in better hands,” said Hartin.
SMART tags strive to increase security, efficiency, and advance MISD’s technological prowess. While many students, student guardians, and bus drivers find issues about MISD’s new SMART tag policy, administrators believe they are a promising concept and its benefits outway its negatives.