Unexpected costs delay rollout of stop arm bus cameras

By Alice Gerard

Senior Contributing Writer

An unexpected snag is postponing the rollout of stop arm bus cameras, reported Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Bob Merkle at the Sept. 9 Grand Island Board of Education meeting, held at Eco Island, 3285 Staley Road.

“We originally had worked with BusPatrol on (the stop arm bus cameras),” Merkle said. “We were getting ready to do the installation. Then, they came back and said, instead of everything being completely free, it was going to be $1,250 set-up fee per bus and then $250 per bus per month, amounting to more than a half a million dollars over the five-year term of the contract. So, we’ve been looking at other options.

“One of the big things that happened last year was that we had a little slowdown because of some questions about the law. The law wasn’t very firm on the stop arm bus cameras. People were challenging it and winning it.”

In March, according to an article printed in a March 8 issue of the (Albany) Times Union, the New York State Appellate Court ruled that camera recordings of each car passing a school bus don’t provide sufficient evidence for a conviction.

“They (the State Legislature) firmed up the law as part of the state budget in April,” Merkle explained. “That’s when we decided to move forward, once they stiffened up the law this year, to make sure that it would stick – because we didn’t want to make that big investment and have those convictions not be upheld.”

An article on the New York State School Boards Associations, dated May 20, stated the issue concerning school bus stop arm cameras was addressed in a provision of the 2025 New York state budget.

Merkle said, “During late April, members of the Legislature stepped in. In a provision of the 2025 state budget, they added language that states that, if a bus camera documents that a vehicle passed a stopped school bus, ‘there shall be a rebuttable presumption that such school bus was stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging any passengers or because a school bus in front of it had stopped to receive or discharge any passengers.’ The burden of proof shifts to motorists, who will have to present evidence that children were not exiting when their car passed a stopped bus.’

“Once the law got strengthened in April, we contacted them (BusPatrol) and said, ‘All right, we’re ready to move forward. Let’s roll.’ That’s when they sprung it on us. They changed their fee structure. They got a big client in the area. Part of our feeling is that, once they got that big client, they didn’t need us to help them get to that big client. That was tough for us. We were very excited to move forward. Then they sprung this big $600,000 fee, which, obviously, is a big cost.”

According to a notice on the City of Buffalo’s website dated July 1, the city and the Buffalo Public Schools signed an agreement with BusPatrol to place cameras on the stop arm of all school buses in the city.

Warnings are being issued to motorists whose vehicles are photographed passing stopped school buses. Those warnings will be issued until Sept. 30. Beginning Oct. 1, motorists will receive tickets of $250 for passing a stopped school bus.

There have been cameras on school bus stop arms in Niagara Falls since late September 2021.

“The goal for us is just for people to stop when the school buses are out there. We’re not in it for the money,” Merkle said. “In fact, we would never see any of the money. It would go to the town court. They would be the ones prosecuting it. But that being said, we are still looking to do it in some form. It might start off as a pilot with a small handful of buses.

“We’re going to go back to the drawing board and evaluate what other companies are out there and see who the best company will be for us to move forward. I’m hoping to have some recommendations to the board in the next few meetings.”

In other news:

•The district is currently advertising for new bus drivers, Superintendent Dr. Brian Graham reported.

“This board has already been proactive in ensuring that we have a robust benefits package, as well as a high hourly wage,” he said. “This advertisement’s been in the Dispatch and on Isledegrande. We hope that it will generate new drivers to our district. Just so the community understands, too, that if you’re a young mom or dad and you want to start a career with us as a bus driver, not only is this a wonderful contract with New York state benefits available to you, but we also will provide Just for Kids before- and after-school child care if your child is school age and attends the Grand Island schools. So, we’re very, very excited about that, and we thank the board for being proactive with that information.”

•“WGRZ did a story about ZeroEyes, an artificial intelligence brandished gun detection software that we have on all of our cameras,” Graham said. “I just sent a letter to all families with a link to this little story from Channel 2. It’s really important to share, particularly because of what just happened in Georgia, how important this Board of Education takes safety for all of us: our students, our faculty, our staff and our visitors to our campus.”