Alma Schools Install New Cameras on School Busses

The Alma School District is installing new cameras on its school busses. Administration hopes the upgrade will keep students safe.

“It’s no longer a he said she said. We’ve got video and audio documentation of what took place,” said Superintendent David Woolly.

The district says each school bus will get three new surveillance cameras. “Technology is so much better than the equipment that we’ve had before,” said Woolly.

Woolly says the district first installed cameras on school busses 25 years ago. “They didn’t handle the vibration well,” said Woolly. “They were VHS tape. They were cumbersome to use.”

The new cameras store everything on a hard drive and have GPS tracking. “Along with the actual picture of the inside of the bus we know exactly where the bus was on its route at all times,” said Woolly.

Fort Smith Police Detective Robert Schibbelhut says he has not seen many problems on busses in the area. He believes cameras will encourage students to be honest and help solve cases.

“They try and tell us one story and when we tell Mr. or Mrs. young man that we’ve got it right here on video, they start tending to tell you the truth,” said Schibbelhut.

The cameras can tell the speed of the bus, if the brakes are applied, and whether or not it stopped when the warning lights are on.

“We just want all children to be safe and secure,” said Woolly. “This is just one way that we can help do that.”

Alma schools expect the installation to take a couple of weeks.

Bentonville, Rogers, and Springdale schools all say they have cameras installed on their busses.