This school year, Katy ISD’s SMART Tag web-based Parent Portal will be replaced by the SMART Tag app, the district announced in a July 18 press release. The new app will send push notifications to registered mobile devices and tablets, providing parents with instant updates about delays, route alterations, or emergencies, the district said.

“The SMART Tag app will provide families with real-time information compared to the web portal because the information will come directly from the app instead of through parents’ mobile carrier,” said Roy Kloeber, Associate Director for Transportation in Katy ISD.

The SMART Tag app will provide Katy ISD families with a faster, more reliable mechanism for tracking students’ bus ridership, and will allow parents to customize the notifications they receive, according to the district.

Every Katy ISD bus is equipped with a tablet that reads the ID cards of student riders when they board and exit a bus. The system also helps drivers to verify the identity and bus route of each rider.

Parents who already have a SMART Tag account will be able to use the same log-in information on the app.

Katy ISD Transportation is available to elementary students residing greater than a ½-mile radius and secondary students residing greater than a 1-mile radius from the patron’s property line to the nearest school property line. Parents may download the app via the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.