Cameras to be on W. Aurora buses

Making sure students are safe and secure means more than just protecting the buildings for West Aurora Unit District 129 -- it also means the buses.

Monday the school board approved slightly more than $100,000 to put cameras on its fleet of about 50 buses. Starting this month, cameras will be installed at the front and middle of many buses with the rest of the installations completed this spring officials said.

The move comes on the heels of the district installing about 80 cameras at West High School for the same safety reasons. Installation of the school cameras is scheduled to start this month.

The digital video systems will be able to record between 30 and 40 days worth of transit trips on hard drives. If there is an incident on a bus, the driver can push a button to mark the time it began, Transportation Director Mark Engen said.

Although the new system will be on all buses, the district has already been testing cameras on some buses that had problems last year.

Engen said one bus in particular had three fights in three weeks last year, which caused the district to install a camera system.

"Once that camera was installed, the difference was night and day," Engen said.

With students knowing that their actions would have consequences, the disruptive and dangerous behavior changed and students on that bus could feel safe, he said.

The system would allow Engen to download any incident and watch a full color, digital resolution picture on his computer. He can pull up incidents by date and take still photos of the questionable actions. The cameras also allow audio recording.

Cameras start when the engine starts and run for five to 10 minutes after the ignition is turned off, allowing district representatives to check if their drivers are walking the aisles to check the bus for students who did not exit -- another plus for Engen.

About 20 new buses that the district will purchase in spring will come equipped with the system, he said.

Superintendent James Rydland said, "buses are the first place our students become our responsibility. They have to be safe and secure."