Durango School District 9-R started a new multipurpose student identification card program that is expected to increase student safety across the district.

Student IDs can be used to track students, check out library books and, next year, purchase lunch.

Students will be given new cards each school year, which will cost the district about $1,150, or 23 cents each.

Identification cards for elementary-aged kids feature a picture of the student and his or her full name. The IDs will also have the district logo but will not give the name of the school the student attends to ensure privacy.

“It is a white card with a chip embedded inside it,” said district spokeswoman Julie Popp. “We take student safety and privacy very seriously, which is why we don’t have our bus routes online.”

It cost the district about $80,000 to install tracking equipment on all of its buses earlier this year, which is now in effect for students who use daily bus services, as well as those who take the bus for field trips or other school-related activities.

District Transportation Director Daniel Blythe said the district owns 35 buses, four of which are used exclusively for extracurricular activities and field trips.

About 1,500 students across the district ride daily bus routes.

“For students to participate in athletics, we have long distances to travel,” Blythe said.

“We have several buses to meet daily routes and to support activities and athletics.”

Each bus in the fleet that runs a daily route averages about 150 miles per day, or 500,000 miles a year.

Routes cover a 2,300-square-mile range from Purgatory Resort north of Durango, east to Lemon Reservoir, west to Hesperus and south near the Colorado-New Mexico line.

“We have a very large district that is rural,” Blythe said. “We have students who ride in from Purgatory and the state line, which is a large square-footage area.”

Students are required to scan their IDs every time they board and disembark from a bus.

This information and more will be available next semester online, where parents can log in to check their child’s location in real time.

Manufactured by Versatrans, the tracking software, My Stop will be available as an iPhone and Android application or on a desktop computer.

My Stop displays the bus’s location on a map, as well as the estimated time of arrival to a specific student’s bus stop. The school bus’s location is automatically updated every five seconds.

“When students scan on the bus, we can look where they got on and off,” said Blythe.

“It also ensures students board the correct bus. We have young students who ride the bus, and it is helpful to have that supportive element.”

Additionally, parents and the district can access other information about the bus fleet, including speeds and whether or not a bus is broken down or running late.

School-issued student IDs can also work with the city of Durango’s transit system. Students can purchase a transit sticker to affix to the back of their IDs.

Yearly passes are available at the Durango Transit Center, 250 W. Eighth St., for $30.

Students on the free- and reduced-lunch program are eligible for a free transit pass, which can be requested at their school office.

Popp said there are about 360 students enrolled to receive a free transit pass this year at no additional cost to the district because of a partnership with the city of Durango.

“We have a tier-one partnership with the multi-modal transportation board, and they provide educational opportunities for our students, such as road and bike safety,” she said.

“Part of that agreement is to provide passes to low-income students, which is great because they may need the pass to ride to mom and dad’s office or the Boys and Girls Club.”

Assistant City Manager Amber Blake said the city’s expense to provide free transportation for students on the free- and reduced-lunch program is low.

“It costs the city the sticker, essentially,” she said.

“It costs us about $300, if that. It is a very minimal expense to the city, and it is a high priority for Durango City Council to ensure that transportation is provided for those low-income families and students.”

Andy Burns, chief operations officer for the district, said the idea for multipurpose student ID cards is a result of 9-R wanting to provide safety and efficiency.

“Our desire to make these IDs is to protect the students,” he said.

“As a large district, we have multiple systems in place, and we want to make sure those systems are working together. By going down this path of having a card with multiple functionalities, it allows us to maximize the system with minimal impact and great benefit to students.”

Burns said families are enthusiastic about the way the IDs work because parents can get real-time information if there are incidents.

If a student loses an ID, there is a $5 replacement fee, or $10 for high school students.

The district is also considering creating a comprehensive one-stop mobile app that includes bus-tracking information as well as the information stored on Infinite Campus, a tool the district currently uses that allows parents to check student attendance records, assignment progress and meal account balances.

“We’ve been exploring different options, and we have limited funds, but we want comprehensive communication tools,” Popp said.

mrupani@durangoherald.com