A forward-facing camera is shown on a school bus during a Clark County School District news conference on school safety at Durango High School Thursday, July 28, 2022. The bus has five cameras on the outside and four in the inside.
Friday, July 29, 2022 | 2 a.m.
The Clark County School District will start the school year with new, 360-degree surveillance cameras inside and out on hundreds of its buses.
The cameras are another major investment in student and staff safety by the district, which resumes classes Aug. 8 after a year of record violence. They join more cameras, fencing, restricted access and panic buttons added on campuses over the summer.
District officials unveiled the bus cameras and summarized the other ongoing security projects Thursday. Here’s what they shared:
Cameras on buses: About 60% of CCSD’s 1,923-bus fleet has been outfitted with the new cameras, with the rest to be installed by the beginning of the second semester, district transportation director Jennifer Vobis said.
The fleet was already fully outfitted with cameras, but the new and improved, Wi-Fi-connected cameras – which will cost about $6 million, covered by bond funds – will allow more efficient video storage and live, real-time monitoring capabilities. Footage may be used to keep tabs on rider and driver behavior and to help investigate traffic incidents.
Cameras in buildings, fencing, single points of entry: These high-profile upgrades have come bundled together, at, so far, Eldorado and Clark high schools, according to district reports notifying the school board of the projects. But the district has otherwise been light on details on the installations, citing security concerns as the reason why it won’t break down the projects or their costs – which can be significant.
CCSD will spend $26.3 million on replacement and added cameras, perimeter fencing and the main entry at Eldorado, where a 16-year-old student allegedly sexually assaulted and attempted to kill a teacher in April. It will spend $100,000 on upgrades at Clark. The projects are covered by reserve funds and were contracted out under emergency protocols/ State law allows local governmental entities to fast-track major expenditures in the event of a health and safety emergency without undergoing the usual contract approvals. In these cases, that includes getting final approval from the board.
State law says nothing about a cap on emergency expenditures or itemizing costs.
CCSD Police Chief Mike Blackeye said that funneling all of CCSD’s 350-plus schools down to single points of entry has been a goal for years. He said having this controlled entry is “one of the staple strategies” for security.
District facilities chief Nathan Miller said many schools already had solid security measures in place. As for what’s new, anywhere, he said that may vary based on building layout, but the district will not identify exact changes.
“Although some changes will be obvious to the public, we don't want to provide those with ill intention information they could use to do harm,” he said.
Instant alerts: The district brought wearable instant alert systems, or panic buttons, to Eldorado within weeks of the teacher attack and another style to nine additional high schools during summer school.
Eldorado’s alert system was an added feature to the microphones teachers wear around their necks. The system tested elsewhere over the summer – a clip-on badge that, with a few clicks of a button, allows its user to initiate a hard lockdown and alert police in an emergency, like a shooting, or request a building administrator for a less-urgent scenario, like a playground injury – cost about $100,000 and was covered by pandemic relief funds. Superintendent Jesus Jara said officials are prepared to make a final recommendation to the School Board next month on which system they'd like to permanently use districtwide.
Police presence: Blackeye said that CCSD Police and their colleagues in other local law enforcement agencies will be out in force, as they usually are, to start the year. The 175-officer CCSDPD will continue to assign two officers to each high school and bring dogs into classrooms districtwide to randomly sniff for guns and drugs. Officers on motorcycles will try to reduce the number of children struck by cars as they walk to and from school – more than 40 were hit last year, he said. School police will also have three civilian social workers embedded with officers, expanding a program it launched last year.
Jara said the district will continue the crackdown it announced on student offenders last spring, and urged parents to talk to children and check their backpacks before they go to school.
“If kids don't feel safe, if kids don't want to come to school, there is a reason,” he said. “Let us know so we can help you.”
