It seems as though the Montreal School Commission (CSDM) is looking to rip a page from the books of Townships’ school boards when it comes to school bus safety.

The CSDM is looking into the idea of putting cameras on school buses, a practice that has been in effect for a number of years in the Townships, both with the Commission scolaire de la region de Sherbrooke (CSRS) and the Eastern Townships School Board (ETSB).
“We’ve had cameras on our buses since 1999,” said Sharon Priest, spokesperson for the ETSB. “They aren’t on at all times. We turn them on when a problem has been reported or in an emergency situation.”
Priest says that these cameras, although not present on all the buses in the ETSB fleet, are there solely for the safety of the students, and are in no way intended to supervise them all the time.
“We turn them on and then look at the film only to address those situations in which a child’s safety may be in question. There is no one watching all the time.”
Without getting into specifics, Priest said that they have been used in the past, and were very helpful in resolving problematic situations.
Denis Marcotte, head of transportation for the CSRS, also feels the use of cameras has been successful for them.
In a statement released last week, Marcotte said, “many problems have been resolved with the use of the cameras, but they are only used in emergency situations.”
He added that all buses have a camera, and are used only when needed.
At the time of the interview, Priest said she had yet to be contacted by the CSDM for consultation.

By Joe Strizzi
Sherbrooke

2009-02-05