Tara Malone, Tribune reporter

Josh Case climbed aboard the yellow school bus Tuesday, lifting his backpack to scan an ID card that had been assigned to him on his first day of kindergarten.

With a quiet beep and a flash of a green light, the 5-year-old was logged into a new system that allows a transportation supervisor sitting miles away to track when and where each student in Palos Heights School District 128 stepped on and off the bus.

“It beeped. I heard his beep,” said Jennifer Case as she gave her youngest son one last kiss before the bus doors closed. “Now, he’s in there. He’s good.”

The southwest suburban district rolled out the new system this week, becoming the second school district in the state to use technology not only to track school buses, but also the students who ride them, officials said.

It is the newest technological advance in the effort to ease parents’ nerves and keep students safe. Today’s parents, torn between wanting to give their kids more independence while also keeping them from harm, can now send them off knowing they can call the school to make sure their child arrived or to check if the child is late returning from school.

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