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Smile, you're on camera
(by Sue Hoffman - January 03, 2011)
Smile, you're on camera
By SUE HOFFMAN
Forty of the Solon School District's 60 school buses now are equipped with two security cameras. The latest purchase of cameras for 10 buses for a total of $20,000 was approved by the school board recently.
The new equipment includes two cameras and wiring per bus.
The district plans to equip all of its buses with cameras eventually, School Superintendent Joseph V. Regano said. The cameras have been helpful in evaluating "any behavior that is questionable."
Some disciplinary action has taken place after reviewing the videos, he said. Often, the behavior is similar to what's been observed at school, he said.
Videos are often reviewed by a parent's request. "The video supports or does not support a parent's contention of what's happening," Mr. Regano said.
Occasionally, the video can show that students are actually friends, according to Assistant Superintendent Thomas W. Stupica. Students might tell their parents they've been hit by another student, but in reviewing the video, "the students are having a good time."
However, misbehavior also has been observed. "Behavior that's been observed at lunchtime and other times of the day can spill over into the bus," Mr. Stupica said.
The district occasionally has to determine if there's a problem on a bus that does not have cameras, he said. "We'll switch buses if we know of a particular problem."
Mr. Stupica said the district started with video cassette recorders on some of the buses about four years ago, but "you couldn't see much in the back, where problems often take place." With new technology that's available, buses are equipped with a camera in the front that the bus driver can see as well as one in the back to capture what the driver cannot see.
With the camera videos, "You can see the whole bus," he said. "It's a true camera system. Sometimes a parent says their kid was hit by Johnny. They're just kids. We can determine from the video what really happened."
Mr. Stupica said most misbehavior occurs on the elementary school and Orchard Middle School bus runs, and most of the parent requests for observation occur on those runs. "Rarely it's on the high school bus," he said.
"All of our buses do an elementary, middle school and high school run," Mr. Regano said. So the same cameras capture behavior at all age levels.
A hard drive connected to the cameras captures about 35 hours at a time, according to Vicki Gliha, transportation supervisor. Bus drivers bring in the hard drive and view it as a digital file on the computer.
The bus cameras give principals "another tool to see how kids behave," she said. "Sometimes principals ask for the videotapes," and they will call the students into their office to review them, she said. Bus drivers also ask to review the videos as part of a conduct report they complete when there's a problem with a student's behavior.
The conduct report is given to parents and schools for infractions ranging from failure to remain seated to unnecessary noise and destruction of property.
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