ELDORADO, IL (KFVS) -
The new year will also kickoff an aggressive effort to get rid of the bullies in the Eldorado Community Unit No. 4 School District.
The school board recently voted in favor of installing security cameras on all busses throughout the district.
"We did a survey last year. And the children said the playground was the number one place that bullying took place," said Principal Steve Nelson at the Eldorado Elementary School." And second was the school busses."
Now in order to get control of what's really going on during school hours on the playground, and as kids ride back and forth to school, two cameras will be installed on each bus.
"There will be one in the back and one in the front. They will also record sound," Nelson said.
Some school bus drivers in the district are looking forward to having the extra set of eyes and ears onboard.
"It will give us the opportunity to be able to watch the road more and not have to watch the kids as much," said Cheryl Turner driver of bus #18. "We will know that the cameras will be there to go back to later and see exactly what happened. It will help us get to the bottom of things."
The anti-bullying campaign doesn't stop on the bus or on the playground either, the message is carried into the classrooms each week.
"Each teacher is required to hold a class meeting," said Katie Ogelsby. "Teachers are going to push back the desks and we get in a circle. And each week is a different topic we go through our four anti-bullying rules. And it gives the kids a chance to talk about things."
The grade school students aren't the only ones in Eldorado's schools learning to be nicer to one another. So are the students at the junior high school.
The Illinois State Board of Education will pay up to 80 percent of the costs of the cameras. Which are expected to be more than $11,000 for all 12, plus hard drives for each camera.
"We are planning on having them all installed by the end of January, or the first part of February," said Principal Nelson.
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Two cameras will be installed on each bus.
The anti-bullying campaign doesn't stop on the bus or on the playground either, the message is carried into the classrooms each week.
"We did a survey last year. And the children said the playground was the number one place that bullying took place," said Principal Steve Nelson at the Eldorado Elementary School.
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