Cedar Hill ISD Buses Add New Cameras
(CEDAR HILL, TEXAS) We live in a time where video is king when it comes to answering the question “What happened?” With a rise in bullying incidents in schools many districts are looking to increase cameras on campuses and now on buses. Cedar Hill ISD recently announced they have expanded the number of buses with cameras on board. Now, all 65 of the Cedar Hill Independent School District buses that are currently on routes have five, state-of-the-art cameras per bus.
“Safety is the central pillar of the Transportation Department,” CHISD Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Tellauance Graham said. “The camera allows us to protect the scholars, the bus driver and the bus itself by giving us detailed information on what happened.”
CHISD started the new year with full cameras on 10 of its new buses, but earlier this month, they expanded to 65 buses. The total cost was $105,000 to add the new camera and remove the old ones.
“We were able to use funds from the transportation budget to purchase the cameras,” Graham said. “Cameras are vital to protection and safety.”
CHISD Transportation Director Jonquez Moore said the buses have a wide span to cover the entire bus. There’s also a dash cam. Moore said there’s been a decrease in behavior referrals on buses that have had cameras.
“We have a better control of scholar management,” Moore said.
Drivers were able to inform parents and scholars of the cameras, and “they saw change in behavior almost immediately,” said Moore.
In addition to the cameras, CHISD Transportation will launch its registration on May 1. This will be done via a Google Document that will also be linked to Skyward. Those options weren’t available before.
On July 1, the district will release bus routes for the 2022-2023 School Year.
