BUSES RETURNING CAPE STUDENTS TO CLASSES WILL CARRY VIDEO CAMERAS

When Cape Girardeau students return to school Monday, the school buses they ride may be monitored with new video cameras.

The school district, along with Ryder Student Transportation, has purchased six video cameras and 11 decoys for the 17 school buses that transport children to and from school each day.

The cameras are mounted at the front of the bus with a video recorder mounted under a seat. The actual cameras and the decoys look identical. The real cameras will be rotated randomly among buses so children won't know if they are being videotaped or not.

Jim Grisinger, manager for Ryder Student Transportation, explained that the camera monitors will serve dual purposes: increasing safety and improving discipline.

"Having the cameras allows the driver to increase his focus on the road," said Grisinger. "That's the big safety issue. It's another tool we can use."

"You'll find kids will settle down when they know someone is watching," Grisinger said.

In addition, students will know that videotape can provide proof of their actions.

"We are taking pictures and showing we know it was little Johnny who did this," he said.

The cameras should prevent fights and improve bus-riding habits, he said.

"This gives us an opportunity to see what's actually happening on the bus," Grisinger said. "So often when one kid gets in trouble, he is retaliating. We can sit down with administrators and parents and see what is really happening."

Similar cameras have been used for several years by Southern Illinois school districts, including Shawnee, Meridian and Egyptian.

Grisinger said those school districts saw marked improvements in bus behavior. In addition, the cameras caught some vandals.

The camera continues running after the bus is turned off, even after the driver leaves. In one case, some students got back on the bus with magic markers and vandalized the bus. The video proved who had done the damage.

Grisinger said Cape Girardeau buses don't have severe discipline problems, but both the school and bus systems want to ensure safety for students.

"We have had instances when people got on the school bus who are no longer students," he said. "We want to prevent the opportunity to come on and sell drugs or cause some other problem."

The cameras cost less than paying someone to ride the bus and monitor behavior, which was done last year on several buses.