HELL NO.
My kid will carry a cell-phone-accessible GPS, and be told not to submit to scanners.

Giving a cell phone to a kid is NOT a good idea! Also GPS does not work inside a bus. From my point of view (Rural school bus driver) it would make my job so much easier. No more counting kids and maintaining pax lists.

nutcase:
they work just as well in buses as they do in my car. Which is very good indeed.

Ominous: I find it interesting that you are so against this technology but you are willing to give your child a cell phone and from the sound of it a Smartphone as a normal phone does not allow a parent to track the child. I'm confused because the cell phone is more easily tracked by the same people you are trying to prevent tracking the child. It also opens them up to being tracked by non-government third parties and if it is a smart phone allows a properly equipped hacker to perform surveillance on your child by taking control of the camera and mic. That’s not to mention all the foolishness that kids get into by not understanding the risks of technology via geo-tagging, social media, etc. I’d rather have this than give anyone below the age of 15 a Smartphone as they simply are not equipped to understand the risks and responsibilities involved.
The short answer to the underlying question is that there is no way for a parent to track a child that does not open the door to "the government" and possibly criminals tracking them as well.

Questions (U.S. perspective):
-How many kids go missing from buses each year? -How many kids go missing from buses and are abducted (as opposed to returning home fine)? -What is the cost per bus of the scanner? -What is the data storage size per child per scan? -What is the cost of annual maintenance, licensing, storage, retrieval, archiving, Disaster Recovery, man hours for implementing and maintaining this "solution".
-is the problem purported to be solved actually a significant problem that needs the application of the time and money needed?

A very small RFID would work just as well. And could be incorporated into a bracelet or necklace or any other small place. Is less intrusive and there is no such thing as a secure server. The Government doesn't need anymore information on me or my kids.

This would be an obvious mistake. People are not livestock.

Every God fearing person knows, that while technology is making great strides to help people, there are those who are going to exploit it for no good. It's smart to question everything and to be safe stay away from nano bio technology. I don't want my hand scanned or God forbid any chips in me. I would encourage anyone who values their soul to protest these things. Let the Medical corporations develop cures for diseases. The security companies develop better credit cards and the government to work on getting us back to the Gold standard. Maybe if we had more jobs in America, people who would take our kids or do harm would just be too darn busy at work to anything else but work.

I'm with Joseph Boe on this one. But I think the bus driver's comment in the article is a better indicator of the actual utility of this system. The companies involved are obviously playing up to parental fear to sell their product. Seriously, how many kids go missing from buses? Almost certainly if your child is stolen or attacked it is by someone they and you know, not some random bus stop waiting child snatcher. Before this tech came along we can only assume that all our children were in a constant state of kidnapping and molestation and it was only through blind good luck that we ever got to see our children after their first bus ride. No, I think from the point of view of the bus driver it is an easier way to make sure they haven't left any kids behind at school or at the museum during a field trip. An easy way to get an accurate count of how many kids use each bus and which stops are most popular etc... The fear aspect is just to get parents riled up enough to demand this technology is implemented in all buses.

Yes its not really about the awful scenarios mentioned in this article. It's about helping those people entrusted with the care of children to be accountable. Anne Ominous sounds like the type of parent every bus driver, teacher and childcare operator dreads. If you are not prepared to help the people entrusted with the care of your children, don't expect them to help you.