Mars Area School District has distributed an e-mail invitation to sign up for the Stopfinder Parent Engagement App, which provides parents/guardians with access to accurate, up-to-date information regarding your child’s school bus schedule. We ask that all parents/guardians please check your e-mail for this important information, as this invitation details the information required to sign up for the Stopfinder App. Parents/guardians will have three (3) days from the receipt of the invitation to sign up for the Stopfinder App.

Note: The e-mail invitations were distributed directly through Stopfinder, not the District’s notification system; therefore, the invitation message will list “[email protected]” in the “From” field, not “[email protected],” which may typically be associated with District communications. If you cannot immediately locate the message in your Inbox, please check your SPAM, Junk Mail or other such folders. Any parents/guardians, who already have a Stopfinder account, will not receive an e-mail invitation. 

Also, please note that the e-mail invitation was only sent to the e-mail address of each student’s “primary” parent/guardian, as listed in the Skyward Family Access Portal. Within Stopfinder, each student’s school bus stop may only be associated with only one (1) e-mail address; therefore, the system defaults to the e-mail address listed for the “primary” parent/guardian. (Note: The District is aware that some families with students, who may have more than one bus stop, may require Stopfinder accounts for an additional family member, who is not listed as the primary parent/guardian. The District will address these situations on a case-by-case basis.) Within the app, each “primary” parent/guardian has the ability to share a student’s transportation information with other parents/guardians and/or family members. (Directions for doing so are available approximately one (1) minute into the Stopfinder tutorial video, available online at www.marsk12.org or www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK1otpt4vYY&t=1s.) 

Once you have signed up for Stopfinder, the app can be downloaded for free via the App Store or Google Play. In addition to displaying your child(ren)’s transportation information, the Stopfinder App includes a messaging feature that enables the District to communicate with you directly in the event of a bus delay or other situation that requires your immediate attention. Within the Stopfinder App, parents/guardians may also choose to set up GeoAlerts, which will notify you when your child’s school bus has arrived at or departed from any location along his/her bus route. GeoAlert Zones can be created for each student, enabling parents/guardians to customize the Alert Zone based on the individual student’s school bus route. More information about Stopfinder is available at https://stopfinder.com.

Parents/guardians, who do not receive and/or complete the steps outlined in the invitation message, will not be able to access your child’s information through the Stopfinder App. Again, please note that all parents/guardians will have three (3) days from the receipt of the invitation to sign up for the Stopfinder App. If, for any reason, you did not receive an e-mail invitation, contact your child’s school building to verify that the contact information that the District has on file for you is correct.

While the District encourages all parents/guardians to use of the Stopfinder App, any specific transportation concerns or questions should be addressed to the Mars Area School District Transportation Office directly at (724) 625-1518, ext. 1502, or [email protected].