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Sun Gazette VOLUME 38
GREAT FALLS McLEAN OAKTON TYSONS VIENNA
NO. 46
AUGUST 3-9, 2017
Supervisors Press FCPS on School-Bus Cameras
McKay: ‘There Is No Reason’ School Officials Shouldn’t Be Moving Ahead BRIAN TROMPETER
LENDING A HAND TO THOSE IN NEED
Staff Writer
Caroline Britt, Katherine Joostema, Carly Britt and Thompson Brownlee were among students, participants in the Interact initiative of the Rotary Club of Great Falls, who recently traveled to Lynchburg in support of a Habitat for Humanity effort building houses. It is the second summer in a row that students from the Interact program have volunteered downstate. See full coverage on Page 4 and a slide show of photos at www.insidenova.com/news/fairfax.
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Fairfax County Public Schools has yet to install video-monitoring equipment on the stop-arms of its buses – and members of the Board of Supervisors want to know why not. Following a joint board matter presented July 25 by Supervisors Jeff McKay (D-Lee) and John Foust (D-Dranesville), supervisors directed county staff members to work with the school system’s leadership to determine the status of the camera-installation program, and obtain a detailed timeline regarding when the equipment would be installed. One camera vendor already serves school systems in the cities of Manassas and Richmond, so “there is no reason why Fairfax County Public Schools should not join these localities and improve the safety of our children,” said McKay, who hoped that at minimum a pilot camera program would be in use by the start of classes this fall. Video-monitoring cameras capture images of vehicles illegally being driven past school buses that have their flashing red lights and stop-arms activated. McKay’s office provided a detailed history of the stop-arm-camera program. The General Assembly in 2011 enacted legislation permitting localities to pass ordinances allowing their school systems to install and operate such school-bus cameras. The initiative hit a legal snag in 2015 when state Attorney General Mark Herring (D) determined that while stop-arm-
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