OXFORD — Twenty more school buses will have digital cameras installed before the start of the new school year, after the School Board of Directors recently authorized their purchase.
Yankee Communications was awarded the contract for $1,475 for a camera system that Operations Committee Chairman Rick DiConzo said is already used in 17 of the 40 buses in the fleet.
DiConzo said the camera can be read by the existing software in the school district and can be retained for future use if necessary.
There are several other camera systems working on some of the other buses in the fleet.
Superintendent Rick Colpitts said the goal is to eventually equip all the buses with the newer digital cameras.
In 2004, the school approved a policy that requires all staff and students to be notified that security cameras may be monitoring their activities on any school property, including buses, and that the video may be used in disciplinary action.
School board member Olive Sanborn, who drives one of the district school buses, said the cameras help the drivers with any problems. “It backs bus drivers up,” she said.
“Years ago we didn’t need them. Whatever the bus driver said is what we did,” school board member John Palmer said.
“Well you must have been in school a long time ago,” Sanborn said, laughing.
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