The Butler School District is considering installing GPS on its fleet of vehicles including dump trucks and vans for transporting special needs students.

The fleet of vehicles at the Butler School District may soon carry GPS devices so that administrators can monitor how they're being used.

During Monday's school board meeting, consultants from the Nutrition Group's property management division listed recommendations for managing the district vehicles.

The district doesn't own its school buses, but it still maintains a fleet of 29 vehicles including dump trucks and vans for transporting special needs students. Three of the 29 are soon to be decommissioned as the district tries to downsize.

One suggestion from the management group is to install GPS tracking devices in the remaining 26 vehicles.

Such a move would cost about $7,000 a year, or about $24 a month per vehicle, but the group's team reported that other districts had obtained insurance discounts for the devices that covered the cost.

Besides location, such GPS systems monitor “speed, seatbelt usage and engine idles” and prevent “time theft,” according to a board memo on the topic.

Read more in the Butler Eagle