Sept. 8
September 8, 2009
Wilda Marie Boudreaux Molaison
September 10, 2009
The Terrebonne Parish School Board unanimously approved a $120,000 bid for new bus video surveillance equipment at last Tuesday’s meeting, but not before a heated debate over who would have access to the recordings.
Alpharetta, Ga.-based 247 Security, Inc. was awarded the contract.
The school system will purchase between 55 and 60 digital video cameras, which record onto DVDs, according to transportation supervisor Delvin Aubert.
He said the cameras would be placed on buses that have been “hot spots” for trouble.
Board members Rickie Pitre and Roger Dale DeHart were not satisfied when Aubert said only he and two other members of the transportation department would have the key to retrieve the discs.
“I don’t want all these keys all over the place. I want to keep it to a minimum,” Aubert said.
Currently, school principals also have a key to access the video recordings. DeHart prefers that practice remain rather than give complete control of access to the administration.
“In the past, principals have been very influential at looking at things and deterring a lot of problems that don’t have to go to transportation,” he said.
“Who has a key and who doesn’t, we can sort that out later,” said Superintendent Philip Martin. “I will be the one who makes the final call on that.”
Pitre was upset that there was no management plan for how the cameras would be utilized and that funding did not go through the board’s Buildings, Food Service and Transportation Committee.
Funding for the cameras was derived from monies carried over from previous years’ transportation department budgets.
Roosevelt Thomas reminded board members that they approved the bus video surveillance system at the May 5 meeting.
Although the entire 175-bus fleet has cameras onboard, Aubert estimated that 40 percent of them are not functioning.
Only 20 buses currently have digital cameras that record onto DVDs. The rest record onto VHS tapes from a VCR.
When the new cameras are installed, about half of the school system’s buses will have updated digital cameras and half will still have the older model VHS tapes.
Aubert said the tapes often eject from the VCR whenever the bus travels during its route.
“We have to ask ourselves do we want to keep going with the VCR equipment and tapes that are rattling and falling to pieces,” he questioned.
Christine Price, a parent of a 17-year old special education student, said cameras have not stopped bullies from beating up her son.
“I was in support of the cameras in 2002 and 2003. But it has already proven not to curb or prevent violence on the buses,” she said. “Only people and supervision will stop the violence.”
She suggested that another adult ride the bus to watch over the students, relieving the drivers of that duty.
Another problem with the cameras, Price and school officials said, is that sometimes they are not turned on.
“If a parent asks to see a tape, they’re being told, ‘Oops, the camera wasn’t on,'” she claimed. “We’re paying for surveillance cameras that aren’t even on.”
While he acknowledged not having cameras operating has been a problem, Martin said a parent whose child was involved in an incident has always been allowed to see the tape.
He noted the cameras are not for disciplinary reasons, but to provide a visual record of everything that occurs on and to the buses.
The superintendent also insisted the cameras have saved the district a significant amount of money when school buses have been involved in accidents.
“When we are not at fault, the cameras make a clear representation of exactly what happened,” Martin told board members. “We pay nothing when we go to court.”
Christine Price, the mother of a 17-year old student, argued against the board spending $120,000 for new bus video surveillance cameras at last Tuesday’s meeting. She said cameras have not stopped kids from beating up her son on the bus. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
