Bemidji School Board Approves Officials, Parents Viewing School Bus Camera Footage

Bemidji school officials and parents now have the right to view school bus camera footage in where an incident takes place to better access a certain situation in regards to a student’s behavior.

Members of the school board approved this right at Monday night’s meeting to provide better context that can help the board’s decisions when a student denies a particular incident.

“In the past, if any other students were seen in that video, that was considered a violation of student privacy, but now under the guidance of U.S. Department of Education and the state Department of Education, the fact that other students are on the bus, doing what they normally would be doing which is just sitting, riding on a bus, that is considered to be called directory information. The same is true if they were in a cafeteria or a hallway in a school building, it is not a problem to show those other students going about other business,” said Bemidji Area Schools superintendent Tim Lutz.

This will provide a better and clearer resolution to future situations where any disciplinary actions may need to be discussed.