Since early March five buses in the Carroll Community School District fleet have been running their routes with newly installed HD cameras to monitor both students and drivers. At their school board meeting on Monday night members of the CCSD School Board got their first look at footage as Superintendent Rob Cordes explained the system’s capabilities.
Included software called Pro-Vision also allows a monitor back at the bus barn to watch a live video feed from a traveling bus as well as keeping track of where that bus is located along its route through built-in GPS. A student’s face is easily recognizable and just knowing the cameras are present also serves as a deterrent for any misbehavior says Cordes. Middle School Principal Jerry Raymond would have to agree following a single incident brought to his attention by Transportation Director Tom Reiter who resolved the problem using footage from the cameras.
Over the summer Cordes and Reiter would like to install more camera systems throughout the thirty-six CCSD bus fleet with the intention of rotating the cameras to achieve some cost savings. The five camera systems already installed, which have two cameras a piece, cost around $7,500. The original request to install the cameras was made by members of the Carroll Education Support Association (CESA) during contract negotiations this past January.
