The district is currently replacing 22 new cameras on busses in order to address safety issues caused by having an outdated security system.

According to director of transportation, Julie Guererro, along with replacing the bus cameras, there will also be an additional camera installed on the outside of the bus to view the entrance door and surrounding areas.

“The cameras were not compatible to the updates in the software program,” Guererro said. “We weren’t really able to keep them up to date. A lot of them were failing on us, so it was time. It was age pretty much.”

These new cameras the district is buying will have a much better picture quality than the current onboard cameras, as well as being up to date with the software’s updates.

One main feature these cameras have is the ability to wirelessly upload the day’s footage to the transportation department’s server, meaning no one needs to go out and manually retrieve every SD Card from every camera.

In addition, the transportation department has begun the process of training new bus drivers to address the shortage of drivers they had this year. They hope this will alleviate issues caused by the shortage.

The current trainee-bus drivers have to undergo a course that typically takes a few months to complete, after which they will be able to fill the new positions.

To become a driver, they must have no more than two points on their driving record, must pass a 50 pound lift test, take 40 hours of training and behind-the-wheel practice, take two weeks of classroom instruction to pass a written exam along with an interview, and enroll in an EMT Drug and Alcohol program to agree to drug testing.

With these new bus drivers eventually being implemented into the pool of current drivers, students who ride the busses to and from school may be seeing some new, more efficient routes.