More Brick School Buses Getting Cameras

BRICK, NJ — More Brick Township school buses will have cameras monitoring students by sometime in January, a school district official announced.

Sean Cranston, acting superintendent of the Brick Township Schools, told the Board of Education at the Dec. 12 meeting that more than 70 of the district's 107 buses will have cameras in place sometime in January.

The district had purchased 30 cameras through a grant but had to seek multiple quotes to install them, Cranston said in November.

"We have a local company that has given us a quote to install them, but under state law we have to have two quotes," Cranston said when the issue was raised following an incident where a Veterans Memorial Middle School sixth-grader was choked during a fight on a bus in October. "We do not have the manpower to do it ourselves."

Currently the district has 42 buses that are equipped with cameras inside. Some of the current fleet of buses is scheduled to be replaced in the 2020-2021 school year as part of rolling replacements of the fleet. Under state law, buses are limited in the number of years they can be used by school districts before they are replaced. The buses to be replaced will have reached their limits under the law.

Cranston said new buses come with cameras already installed, so that will add to the number of buses with cameras.

After announcing at the November school board meeting that the district needed additional quotes, several companies came forward, Cranston said. The award went to a local company that said it will install the 30 cameras for $259.49 per bus. The hope is that installation will be completed by the time the students return from winter break.

As the district grapples with budget cuts, courtesy busing is one of the items that is not under consideration. That's because Brick Township voters in 2007 agreed to fund courtesy busing as a permanent part of the school budget tax levy, through a referendum.

Only another referendum could change that budget item.

Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Brick Patch on Facebook.