HEADLINES Pennsylvania School District Tackles Audio Dilemma School bus video cameras can be a useful tool for many trans-
portation directors. Te devices act as silent witnesses to nearly everything that happens on the school bus. But what if they were too silent? In Pennsylvania, school districts have a hard time using the
footage taken from these cameras because, to keep in line with the state’s wiretapping laws, the audio portion of the footage is never included in the first place. “Not having any sound on the cameras has pretty much made
them useless in my district,” said Peter Matticola, transportation manager for Norristown Area School District northwest of Phila- delphia. “I used to rely on the audio to back up the driver in many cases to prove that they were instructing the students to correct their behavior.” But before the beginning of this school year, Matticola received
some troubling information from the city’s new district attorney. Recording audio was breaking a state law. Since then, the new information has had a chilling effect on his purchase decisions. “I have discontinued our camera upgrades and am not
purchasing any new equipment until this is resolved,” said Mat- ticola, adding that in the few instances that he brought in the
police to view footage from some of the tapes nothing ever was used in court. Te problem has not gone unnoticed. Te Pennsylvania School
Bus Association (PSBA) is seeking an exemption from the law simi- lar to one that allows audio on video taken by police car cameras. According to Executive Director Selina Pittenger, PSBA met in early April to find a resolution to the issue, one the board has been working on for some time now. “We plan on addressing this issue during the current legislative
session,” said Pittenger. “Not having the audio can cause prob- lems when following up with discipline issues. I have a feeling it is going to be a long battle.” Pittenger described the audio portion of video recordings as
a tool that transportation departments would definitely utilize if they were granted an exemption. In instances where there are preceding events that lead to a physical altercation, the audio re- cording might give districts proof of verbal harassment and give more dimensions to a resulting altercation. “We’re looking to get feedback concerning a bill that was in-
troduced a few years ago and understand what stalled the bill and try to rectify those problems,” added Pittenger. ■
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www.ewss.org | 10939B Reed Hartman Hwy. • Cincinnati, OH 45242 22 School Transportation News Magazine May 2011
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