Raymond Berry, 77, 25-year member of square dance club

By JEANETTTE WOLFBERG

HUDSON—The Columbia County Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee has been discussing the possibility of contracting with a private company for video cameras on the exterior and in the interior of school buses.

Exterior cameras record vehicles that do not stop when coming across a stopped school bus. Interior cameras,which some school districts already have, record behavior on the buses.

Transportation administrators for the New Lebanon Central School District would like cameras ready by this September, reported New Lebanon Supervisor Tistrya Houghtling (D), the board’s minority leader. She was speaking at the committee’s May 16 meeting. Many people spoke favorably about the cameras for safety, but some also voiced concerns about privacy. The supervisors agreed to discuss this matter with school officials.

Dutchess and Rensselaer counties are already using exterior bus cameras supplied by BusPatrol of Lorton, VA. Dutchess County announced it’s partnering with BusPatrol in December 2021. Two Dutchess County officials—Gregg Pulver, chairman of the legislature, and Eoin Wrafter, director of planning—spoke to the May 16 meeting via video conference. They reported that exterior cameras on Dutchess County school buses have recorded vehicles passing stopped buses 11,100 times. The cameras record the violators’ license plate numbers and the individuals associated with those numbers get billed. Additional information suggests that 93% of these fines are paid.

Furthermore, the Dutchess officials said, the cameras have identified specific locations where most of the violations occur, mostly on multilane roads. “At least you can tell local police about these places, so they can watch them,” Ms. Houghtling observed.

Counties pick the company that supplies the cameras by bid. Dutchess County’s contract calls for it to pay BusPatrol a “technology fee” of up to $185 per outfitted bus per month, with fines collected from cars that pass stopped school busses. Footage from the exterior video camera is seen only by county officials. Footage from the interior video camera is seen only by the school district. The contract terms can vary from company to company and for the same company with each different school district. Supervisor Brenda Adams (D-Canaan) pointed out that the terms negotiated by Dutchess County might not be available to Columbia County.

Even when a county has a contract for cameras, individual school districts can opt out of it. A few Dutchess County districts have done so. In addition, by New York State law, schools must notify parents if the busses have cameras.

The fines Dutchess County has collected so far have not exceeded the monthly technology fee, the Dutchess officials said. When the fine for a video-identified violation is not paid, the case “goes into limbo,” they acknowledged. “You really must reach out to magistrates,” said one. “We are struggling with several municipalities whose magistrates won’t hear cases.”

Other issues arose in the meeting. A supervisor wondered if there is evidence that the cameras really improve safety. And some people noted that the driver committing the violation might not be the owner of the car.

A next step, the supervisors decided, is to get feedback from school districts.

On the topic of exterior cameras, Bernadette Martin of Hudson, who used to be a bus monitor, pointed out on May 22 that when a bus stops, the driver and monitor put all attention on the safety of the children and cannot take time to record license plate numbers.

“Cars that pass school buses put kids in danger,” Ms. Houghtling said on May 24. “It boggles my mind why anyone would pass a stopped school bus.”

The “cameras could prevent illegal practices on the road, such as passing when a bus is stopped, etc.”

The Hudson district already has interior cameras, said Dr. Lisamarie Spindler, the outgoing superintendent of the Hudson City School District. Dr. Spindler said that “as a mother and a superintendent I wholeheartedly support the use of cameras on buses.”

“Cameras monitor student behavior. They could help minimize bad behavior and prevent bullying” and vandalism on buses, said Dr. Spindler, adding, “The cameras provide video evidence when we have incidents on the bus, and they also aid in the investigation of accidents.”

Ms. Houghtling agreed, saying,“There have been some instances on school buses that it would be helpful to see what really happened,” but said, “I would defer to the school administration as to whether to use inside cameras.”