North Hills High School welcomes students with band and new bus tracking app
Students at North Hills High School were greeted by the school band on their first day back, while the district introduced a bus tracking app to assist parents with transportation.
ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. —
North Hills High School began a new school year on Tuesday morning with a lively performance by the school band and the launch of a new bus tracking app for parents.
“You can see the excitement when the students are walking up onto our campus, you can hear the band from the student parking lot that’s so far a distance away, and that’s what makes this place special,” Superintendent Patrick Mannarino said.
Mannarino also shared advice for students, particularly seniors and freshmen, as they began the new school year.
“Work hard. Do your best. We’re here to support our students and our teachers in anything and everything that they have to deal with throughout the school year,” he said.
Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube Channel
While the first day of school can bring nerves for students, it can also be a hectic time for parents. To help ease transportation concerns, the district introduced the Stopfinder app, which allows parents to track their child’s bus.
“I think especially for those families with the younger children, it’s going to be great. Just a peace of mind that they arrived at school safely,” said Heather Pelat, the district’s director of communications.
The app also includes geo-alerts, which notify parents when the bus reaches specific points along the route. It is available not only for North Hills students but also for approximately 300 children in the area who attend schools outside the district but use North Hills transportation.
“Three of my kids go to North Hills schools, two different ones, and then I have a daughter who is at the school for the blind in Oakland. So for me, having all four of them in the same space that I can track their buses, see when they’re all getting home, trying to coordinate four kids’ after-school activities and things like that,” parent Nataly Price said.
Download the WTAE app to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news in your inbox.