ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- Students across the Twin Tiers are back in class. If an Elmira City School District student takes the school bus, families can now securely track their student's bus. MyView is a phone application that can locate a bus within proximity to their pick-up and drop-off spots by using their student's unique student ID code. 

"The biggest reason why we're using the app is to open up the communication with our families, right?" Head Bus Driver for Elmira City School District Wendy Nichols shared. "This can give [parents and guardians] a sense of security in the safe transportation of their students to and from school every single day. Ease of operation, it's right there at their hand." 

Zonar MyView is already being used to collect data information about the district's 84 school buses that run every day. The app is like location sharing apps, "Find My Friends," and "Life 360." MyView is a secure app that cannot be accessed by anyone curious about a school bus with students; the app requires a student's unique identification number.

"In order to obtain access to your child's my view information, you must have a School Tool account. In order to get a School Tool account, you have to add answer some identifying questions, and then you would receive a unique identification number for your student that you can then use to get into the MyView," said Nichols. 

Parents and guardians can set up a geofence to receive notifications about their child's bus within set parameters. MyView does update in real time. At this time, the locator does not follow a student traveling on different buses for field trips; only the bus the student is assigned to daily.

"At this time you cannot track a bus that your child is not assigned to, and every child is assigned uniquely to their own bus. As you used an example, if my kid rides bus 438, I can only track bus 438 at this time. If they go on bus 478 for a field trip, I cannot," explains Nichols. 

Around 4,000 students attend Elmira City School District schools. Thousands of parents are using the app to watch their students from morning pick up to mid-afternoon drop off. If a parent has concerns about their student's bus, dispatchers remain available by phone.