News
behavior. “We will have times when a parent gets on the bus and threatens a student or the driver. We have a camera facing the steps and whatever happens is available for review,” Valentine said. Such incidents also happen in Winston-Salem. “Everyone once in a while, we’ll have an unruly parent at a bus stop. We’ve been able to pull the video of parents directing profanity at a driver or students and we’ve had a couple drivers assaulted,” Taylor said. “We have it recorded there and have taken a few people to court for trespassing.”
While cameras may not necessarily deter bullying incidents, they can head off costly, false-claims lawsuits—such as an accusation that a driver assaulted a child—by providing valuable, impartial ev- idence. “Te court system really likes the video. Tere’s no ‘he said, she said.’ You have it right there in color,” Taylor said. Taylor, whose transportation department serves North Carolina’s
fourth largest school district, noted cameras also provide a return on investment in resolving incidents of vandalism. “Unfortunately, some students like to cut seats. We can see who
did it,” he said. “We’ve got the proof on video and they’re going to pay us back for it.” Valentine reported the daily grind of the road can be tough on video systems, which can lead to rare gaps. “Every now and then, a few fail. It’s technology and it’s going to happen,” she said. “It can be hard to explain when you think you’ve got it, you pump it up and, all of the sudden, there’s no video. It’s hard to get people to
accept it just happens, but it does.” Still, it’s important to appreciate that video quality has “come a long way since the VHS days,” she said. Taylor added that a system’s versatility has reached a point where “you
can zoom in right on a student in a particular seat.” “Te cameras are much better and they get better all the time,” he said. “I’m getting ready to take an order of 24 buses to be delivered to us. Te cameras are factory installed, so we don’t have to worry about getting someone out to install cameras. Te day we get the buses, the cameras are ready to go.” Schultz said he believes the value of cameras is found in the form of an appropriate response to various challenging situations. “If you’re not using them, it’s probably only a matter of time
before you do. It’s only going to take one incident, like the fatal Knoxville, Tennessee, school bus crash, where you had no idea what’s going on to make you wish you had them,” he said. “If you have a driver doing bad things or a kid misbehaving, you can respond appropriately when you have video. Otherwise, there is al- ways a doubt or misconception about what’s really going on. With it, you know the appropriate response and you can make it.” Taylor agreed. “At the end of the day, cameras are a very useful management tool,” he said. ●
ACT & Eberspaecher
ACT, ProAir & Eberspaecher See Us At TSD Booth #721
26 School Transportation News • MARCH 2017 CELEBRATING25YEARS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
