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Guilford County Schools Test Mobile Thermometer App Ahead Of School Year

The Guilford County Schools district is looking at technology and other options to help bus drivers and staff implement COVID-19 safety measures. It's still unclear when students will return to brick and mortar buildings. School leaders are waiting for more guidance from Gov. Cooper and state education officials this week. KERI BROWN/WFDD

Guilford County Schools officials are testing a new app that could make boarding a school bus or entering a school building easier whenever students return to in-person learning.

The smartphone app takes a student's temperature. The result can be shown to a bus driver or school official. Guilford County Schools leaders say the technology would ease some of the burden on its employees, as required COVID-19 safety measures are implemented. It would also help cut down on thousands of pieces of paper each day from additional forms.

“All of us are going to have many concerns about this new normal we are going to live in, but we aren't going to have a lot of options available to us because we don't have a lot of excess staff, which is the problem here,” says Superintendent Sharon Contreras. “In an ideal world, we would have an additional person on the bus.”

Contreras says the app can even be customized so a school principal can see that everyone on the bus has been screened.

“It's easy,” she says. “And perhaps we can get it down where the bus driver might only have to do a quick temperature check for small children who don't have cell phones or whose parents aren't standing at the bus stop with them.”

The district says it's working with the software company to get a cost estimate for the 73,000 students and 10,000 employees it serves.

For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you're experiencing.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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