W
ith the various types of advanced equipment now available, student transportation leaders are wise to invest in them to enhance student safety and
support efficient operations. But the work doesn’t stop once purchases are made. From installing equipment to undertaking repairs when needed, keeping everything in tip-top order can be challenging. Such efforts have become routine at Beaverton School
District near Portland, Oregon, which has obtained a growing number of devices for its fleet from cameras to tablets to other advanced tech. “Over the years, we’ve increased the number of cameras used inside our school buses and added wide angle cam- eras,” said Joel Feldhan, a Beaverton operations supervisor with responsibilities in this area. “We worked closely with our local bus dealership to prototype and test new cam- eras and develop new camera configurations to ensure maximum field of view coverage inside the bus.” An advantage of this working relationship is that installation is handled by the dealership, eliminating the
need for staff to dedicate time to that function. For new tablets, on the other hand, outside help isn’t
needed. “We do those installations ourselves,” Feldhan noted. “Installation is relatively simple, and our techni- cians are highly skilled.” At Greenville County Schools in South Carolina,
practices vary with the number of buses involved with a given installation. “We usually have more than one bus involved, so we have a blanket purchase order with our vendor to have them install it,” said Adam James, direc- tor of transportation and fleet services. In that case, locally certified contractors are used. If
it’s only one bus, a dedicated person is on staff who can install new equipment. “So, I guess we use a hybrid of both,” James noted. An internally focused approach has become the norm
at California’s San Jose Unified School District. “Installs have gone both ways where the company arranges for it and where we do it ourselves,” said Corrin Reynolds, the district’s manager of transportation and fleet. “Because the install companies are in for the quick buck, they’re
36 School Transportation News • MARCH 2025
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