Columbia County news

This excerpted story is provided courtesy of the latest issue of The Columbia Paper, which can be seen online at www.columbiapaper.com.

Cameras on buses in Ichabod School district discussed

KINDERHOOK — Ichabod Crane school district Transportation Supervisor Dan Doyle told the Board of Education last week that as many as 10 drivers a day pass a district school bus while it is stopped.

Doyle told the board on Sept. 11 that the new buses the district purchased this year have cameras in the stop arms — the signs that extend when the bus is stopped, alerting drivers to stop and wait as students get on or off the bus.

Doyle said currently if a driver passes a bus with the stop arm out and a police officer sees it, the officer will issue the driver a ticket. He said the transportation office calls the police if someone passes the bus without an officer present to witness the violation. That person may get a call from the sheriff’s office but cannot be given a ticket. And without a law authorizing the use of these images, the recordings from the new cameras on the stop arm would not be admissible in court.

Currently all the district’s buses have five cameras on board. One of those cameras is set to show the drivers’ view of the road.

Doyle said in an interview after the meeting that the windshield camera can record a driver’s license plate number if there is a traffic issue. He also said that anything recorded by the internal cameras canbeusedincourt.the cameras have night vision, motion sensors and microphones. — Emilia Teasdale

$27 million project faces special vote

KINDERHOOK — The Icabod Crane school board on Sept. 17 voted 6-2 to hold a special election Dec. 12 to consider whether to authorize the district to “construct additions to and reconstruct district buildings and facilities, including site work ... acquire original furnishings, equipment, machinery or apparatus and pay incidental costs related thereto, at a maximum cost of $27,115,200.”

— Emilia Teasdale