Ouachita school buses getting cameras, route-tracking, and A/C

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - Ouachita Parish school buses are about to get big upgrades.

On Tuesday, the Ouachita Parish School Board announced that $2 million of COVID relief funds have been pre-approved to add air conditioners to all the buses.

However, Ouachita Parish has been approved to add cameras and bus technology that can track the routes of all two hundred buses.

“We were pre-approved for $2 million. We looked at about $14,000 on an informal quote per bus. So we figured when you’re looking at 150 to 200 buses you will get a little better price,” said Clint Miller, the OPSB Director of Information Technology.

He says they had to apply several times to get the COVID relief funds to pay for the air conditioners.

Miller says the upgrades will have a positive impact on the students and drivers.

“First of all, it will be a comfortable riding experience. The cameras, we will be doing that, and we will be going out for bids to get those. We’re going to look at implementing some bus routing software, that was also approved as well. That will basically help the transportation department be more efficient in how the routes run,” Miller said.

Skeeter Boyd the Ouachita Parish School Board Director of Transportation says this will make the bus driver’s job easier.

“So it’s going to help the bus drivers with their big responsibility. They are supervising like 60 kids on a bus. So everything that they can get will be a big asset for them,” Boyd said.

All the Ouachita Parish school buses are scheduled to have the upgrades installed by 2024.

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