JACKSON INSTALLS CAMERAS ON BUSES TO REDUCE TROUBLES

JACKSON -- In an effort to reduce discipline problems and increase safety, the Jackson School District is the latest of area school to equip school buses with "black boxes" concealing cameras.

The boxes can be used to enclose an 8mm camcorder with a one-way mirror to record on videotape everything that goes in inside the bus.

Bus drivers say the camcorders are like having an extra pair of eyes in the back of their head, while administrators say it provides them a powerful tool to deter discipline problems on the school bus.

"Most of our buses are running at full-capacity, many of them on routes up to an hour-and-a-half," said Wayne Maupin, superintendent of Jackson schools. "You put that many kids on a bus for that long and it can be quite a chore for the bus driver to maintain law and order.

Maupin said the black boxes will enable drivers to better concentrate on safe driving instead of worrying about discipline.

"Our bus drivers must watch the road ahead and not the back of the bus to see who's throwing paper wads or causing other discipline problems," he said. "By and large, we have pretty good behavior on our buses, but it is becoming more of a challenge for our drivers to maintain safety and discipline on the buses."

Jackson is one of several school districts in Southeast Missouri to install the camcorders on some, or all, of their school buses.

This is also the first year for camcorders and black boxes on school buses in the Charleston school system.

Terry Rowe, director of student transportation, said black boxes have been installed on five of the district's 18 buses.

"We selected buses that run multiple routes -- in town and out-of-town -- and one kindergarten bus," Rowe said. "I think they have already proven their worth.

"Just having the black boxes on the five buses has proven to be quite a deterrent. At the end of the year, we'll evaluate the project to see if we need to add any more boxes to our bus fleet."

Clayton "Bud" Spears, director of student transportation for Sikeston public schools, said this is the second year for the recorders on Sikeston buses.

"They provide a powerful, visual persuasion to students and parents," Spears said. "When a parent views the video with their child, they are often shocked that their child would behave that way on the school bus. They promise things will be different from then on."

Because the black box has a one-way mirror, no one on the bus, including the driver, knows if the bus has an operating camcorder. Spears said just seeing the black box mounted near the driver typically is a sufficient deterrent to misbehavior.

"Only the transportation director and the administration know which bus will have a TV camera on any particular day," he said. "If a driver has some discipline problems on his bus, they come to me, and we put a camcorder on the bus for several days to resolve the problem."

Spears said he also has installed black boxes and camcorders on Scott County Central school buses.

Dennis Parham, principal at the R.O. Hawkins Junior High School in Jackson, said he thinks the camcorders on school buses will be an asset in Jackson. He saw the program at work while he was assistant junior high principal at Sikeston.

"We found that after we installed the black boxes and TV cameras on our school buses, the number of discipline referrals dropped dramatically," Parham said.

He said the lens on the camcorder can be manually focused to bring in a sharper image anywhere in the bus, including the back seat area, where most discipline problems originate.

"What we're really concerned about here is the safety of the students," Parham added. "If a bus driver's eyes and attention are focused, even momentarily, on something going on in the back of the bus, he isn't watching the road ahead for possible hazards or emergencies that might endanger students on the bus."

At least two other area school districts are planning to install black boxes and camcorders on their school buses.

Ron Wene, superintendent of the Woodland School District, said the black boxes and some camcorders likely will be installed on buses by the start of the 1994-95 school year.

Kelly Superintendent Mike Johnson said the district has discussed putting black boxes on 13 of their school buses next fall. The camcorders will be rotated as needed.

"We like them because extra margin of safety it provides to our students," Johnson said.

Jim Englehart, director of student transportation for the Cape Girardeau Public Schools, said the idea of putting camcorders on Cape Girardeau school buses has been discussed for years.

Englehart, who is retiring at the end of the school years, said the hidden cameras likely will be considered further by his replacement.

"But right now, there are so many other things that we need more than camcorders," he said. "Perhaps, in the future, the priorities may change."

The Cape Girardeau school district -- along with three southern Illinois school districts -- has a contracts with Ryder Student Transportation of Cape Girardeau to provide student transportation.

Only Meridian Community School District of Mounds, Ill., has installed the black boxes and camcorders on some of their school buses, said George Hathhorn, manager of Ryder Student Transportation.

All 25 school buses in the Paducah, Ky., public school fleet were equipped with black boxes last fall.

Lyman Brown, director of pupil personnel for Paducah public schools, said the camcorders are rotated among the fleet.

"It's an excellent discipline aid for the bus driver, who may not be able to deal with the problem at the time," Brown said. "But together with the driver, the administration, the pupil involved, and his or her parents, the playback of the video is usually all that's needed."

"It's had a tremendous impact on the amount of discipline problems we have had," he added. "We're very pleased with them.

Other west Kentucky school districts to install the black boxes and camcorders on busses include Carlisle and Graves County schools.