When a school bus went missing in Berks County, Penn. in 2002, five hours passed before parents, school officials and police found out what happened to the driver and the 13 children on board. Fortunately, no one was injured in the ordeal, which ended when the driver, who had a semi-automatic gun, turned himself in to police in Landover Hills, Md., 100 miles from the children’s school.

The Berks County incident is just the sort Everyday Wireless hopes to avoid with its real-time location-tracking technology for buses. Sprint announced Thursday that is has certified the vendor’s system to work on its Nextel wireless network and plans to offer the technology along with its other services.

The idea behind Everyday Wireless’ system is to give dispatchers and law enforcement clear information on where buses are if they go missing or need help due to an accident or behavioral problem on the bus. Sprint calls the Everyday Wireless iX-3 offering “the next generation of GPS-based bus tracking technology.” The system delivers data every 10 seconds over the Nextel iDEN network so buses can be located at any time.

The iX-3 system also supports rider attendance features that track when and where students board and disembark the bus. While this feature may seem big brother-like, public schools are required to file ridership reports for state and federal funding. The system also can be set up to send an alert if a student gets off at the wrong stop.

Colorado Springs School District, Orange County Public Schools in Florida, and Dallas County Schools are all using Everyday Wireless products to track school buses.