Angela Brandt
Havre Daily News
abrandt@havredailynews.com
Two new buses purchased by Havre Public Schools will be equipped with cameras.
HPS director of transportation Ginger Zanto said she hopes the use of the cameras will improve students' respect towards one another and the bus driver and also the language used on the bus.
“We intend to use cameras on the buses to improve student behavior, solve serious disputes, and enhance driver student management,” Zanto said Wednesday.
The HPS transportation department has been researching the use of video surveillance by interviewing representatives from schools across the state.
Of the schools interviewed, 18 out of 21 said they use cameras.
She said the transportation employees she interviewed said the most valuable uses of the cameras are detecting driver problems, determining who is at fault when students fight, showing parents how their children act while riding the bus, getting help if the bus is involved in an accident and using the recordings in drivers' training.
Many of those interviewed recommended the use of digital cameras over videotape.
The buses HPS bought will arrive with digital cameras installed.
Zanto said the two new vehicles, which will cost about $75,000, are expected to arrive sometime between November and February.
She estimated the cameras cost between $3,500 and $4,000.
The new buses will be rotated through the HPS routes in two-week increments.
