BARTON COUNTY – The USD 428 Board of Education unanimously approved the purchase and installation of security cameras for all district school buses on Monday night. There are 7 buses that currently do not have cameras.

The cameras for the seven buses will cost $2,388 per bus for a total $16,716.

Radio Engineering Industries from Omaha, Nebraska will make a trip to Great Bend to install the cameras.

The district hopes to have the cameras installed between the winter and spring sports seasons, according to USD 428 Interim Superintendent Khris Thexton.

“Safety of students and employees is a top priority for us,” said Thexton, in a press release. “Cameras not only protect our students, but also our drivers.”

The cameras will record the data to a computer hard drive monitored by the school district.

District parents clamored to have cameras and video recording on all the district’s buses after two incidents of battery occurred on USD 428 buses involving the Great Bend High School swim team in February of 2016.

Two students were charged in the assault case in Ellsworth County and one was convicted of misdemeanor battery.