Bethel Park buys five new school buses, computer equipment
Bethel Park School Board agreed to buy five new school buses and several computers during its April 24 meeting.
The school district will spend $361,940 for three, 72-passenger buses and two, 24-passenger buses. Those vehicles will also be outfitted with cameras to monitor student behavior within the bus and motorists’ behavior outside the bus.
Earlier this school year, the district installed cameras outside some buses to catch drivers who do not stop while a bus has its red lights flashing, as required by law. The district has forwarded video footage to police so officers can investigate.
The new buses will replace older ones, as part of an annual rotation.
The board also agreed to buy 20 iMacs and one MacPro desktop computer to be used for video editing at the high school television station. The cost will be up to $45,000. The district will also spend $20,294 for extra warranty and support services for the district’s network equipment.
The board also made several personnel decisions, including closing nine teaching positions and replacing some of them with the opening of three other teaching positions. All of the eliminated positions are vacant due to teacher retirements or resignations, so no one will be laid off.
The closed positions are science, special education, physical education, Spanish and social studies at Independence Middle School; grade 1 and 4 at Washington Elementary; grade 3 at Lincoln Elementary; grade 4 at Memorial Elementary. The opened positions are grade 2 at Lincoln; grade 2 at Washington and a high school science teaching position.