Charter Schools

Compass Access for Charter School Users

  • First obtain credentials to access COMPASS by completing an External User Request form.  This form can be obtained through the Charter Schools Office.
  • Send the completed form to compass@philasd.org. A designee from the Charter Schools Office will sign off as your district sponsor and email the form to the IT Helpdesk for COMPASS access.
  • New users will receive an email from helpdesk@philasd.org with their username, password and a link to the School District of Philadelphia SDP portal to login to COMPASS.

Determining Student Transportation Eligibility in COMPASS

The Department of Transportation Services is committed to making the process of fulfilling student transit requests as easily and efficiently as possible. The first step in this process is to determine whether a student is eligible for transportation.  In order to determine eligibility, all pertinent data is entered into our mapping software called COMPASS. COMPASS is a web-based program that creates our District-wide bus routes. COMPASS is built using the leading, widely popular and standard GIS technology platform from Esri. This is the same technology used by the majority of federal, state, county, municipal and school district agencies. Our Scheduling Analysts use COMPASS to assign transportation services to students and communicate the transportation assignments to schools.

Understanding how COMPASS works will help you facilitate your students’ transportation as well as communicate with parents and guardians about their transit and routing concerns and questions.

Requesting Transportation For Your Students

To request and change transportation for students School Administrators must:

  • Ensure the student information has been entered into Infinite Campus (IC) correctly. Please visit the IT Training and Support page for detailed information on entering your students in IC.
  • Submit a Transportation Access Request (TAR): this is what tells a Scheduling Analyst a student qualifies for Yellow Bus transit.
    • Once you submit your TAR, your Scheduling Analyst will use the student information in COMPASS and review existing routes to put the student on the most efficient route.
    • For students who are eligible for TransPasses, a TAR is not required. If a student is eligible for a TransPass, COMPASS will automatically assign the TransPass once the student has been entered into the SIS. For details on the TransPass distribution process, please visit our TransPass Guidelines page.

Training Resources

Please view the COMPASS video training tutorials listed in the sidebar on your right to learn how to submit TARs for your students and access important Transportation Reports such as Route Operation Reports (RORs).

If you need additional training support, contact your Scheduling Analyst. Please view the Scheduling Analyst Assignment List to confirm your Routing Analyst and get their contact information.

You can also e-mail compass@philasd.org to request training support.