Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 15, 1993 TAG: 9306150068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It's like putting Mr. T on the bus," says Gammons, director of transportation for Henry County schools. "It works."
Henry County is one of more than 30 school divisions across the state that have installed or are installing video cameras on their buses to help cut down on misbehavior by young riders.
Others include Roanoke and Montgomery County schools. Both of those school divisions have started out in a small way with a couple cameras each, but they hope eventually to add more. Botetourt County school officials say they plan to spend $20,000 or more to install surveillance equipment on their buses by next fall.
Barbara Goodman, director of pupil transportation for the state Department of Education, said school divisions that are experimenting with the cameras have been pleased with the results so far.
"They're doing what they wanted them to do - they've calmed the children down," Goodman said.
She worries, however, that there's "a halo effect" that will wear off once the children get used to the cameras being around.
"Will they become immune to them?" she said.
She's encouraging school divisions to go slow on how much they spend on the newfangled equipment. "I hate to see a county invest that kind of money when we have so little information" about how successful the cameras will be in the long run.
After all, these days "you have cameras everywhere - you know Big Brother is watching - but it hasn't stopped people from robbing banks."
The cameras generally cost $12,000 to $18,000 each, Goodman said.
The school divisions that are using them do not have cameras on every bus. They install camera boxes and then rotate cameras from bus to bus. In Henry County, for example, the schools have 10 cameras for 119 buses. Botetourt County plans to buy 10 cameras for 57 buses.
The key is that the boxes hide the cameras - so it's impossible to tell whether the camera is or isn't on the bus on a given day. The kids on board have to assume they're being watched all the time.
Chris Dunlap, transportation supervisor for Danville's schools, said his drivers have seen a decrease in discipline problems since the camera boxes and cameras were put in.
And when there has been misconduct, the cameras have helped bring the wrongdoers to justice. "It helped clear up a lot of `They said this-They said that' sort of thing."
In one case, Dunlap said, a student hit another in the face with a book. The victim suffered a bloody nose and cut under the eye. The student who did it professed innocence.
But the tape showed the whole thing. "It's kinda hard to argue with a film," Dunlap said.
In Henry County, one younger student was complaining about bigger kids picking on him on the bus. The bus driver could never catch them doing it.
School officials rotated a camera onto the bus and, sure enough, caught the other kids plucking him on the head and trying to stick paper in his ear. Case closed. The bullies were punished.
"Most of our bus riders do what they're supposed to do," said Rod Dillman, assistant superintendent for Botetourt schools. "But we do have problems from time to time. If the use of these cameras will lessen the problems, we'll feel that it's worth it."
A school-bus driver in Culpeper told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the cameras have "turned our little devils into angels."
One Culpeper student said "it's a good idea because it has caught people throwing spitballs and stuff." But another was more skeptical: "I don't see kids any more worried about getting into trouble. It was just a waste of money."
Goodman, the state transportation director, said she worries that the tendency will be to see the cameras as a cure-all for discipline problems. She said school divisions still need to give training and other support to drivers to help them deal with misbehavior.
School officials say they have yet to hear many complaints that the surveillance is an invasion of privacy. They say security cameras are a fact of life in today's society, and school buses are public places.
If you're worried about being taped, Danville bus supervisor Dunlap said, "then you better not go into a bank. You better no go into a department store. You better not go into a 7-Eleven."
by CNB