Waunakee budget committee approves purchase of parent tracking app and enhanced bus cameras

The Waunakee Community School District Budget Committee on April 8 approved buying a parent bus-tracking application and enhanced bus cameras, using Zoom savings and other reallocations to cover the first-year cost.

Committee members said the decision is intended to improve student supervision on buses and give principals faster access to footage when incidents occur. Dr. Brown (staff member) told the committee that the newer camera systems “would provide an opportunity for our principals to have additional tool, 1 additional tool in their toolkit,” and that the district’s current cameras often cannot show what is happening inside seats.

The nut of the decision: the committee moved to use existing budget savings (including the roughly $18,000 saved after eliminating paid Zoom) and other reallocations to purchase a parent-tracking app (cost described in the meeting as under $10,000) and to fund enhanced cameras and cloud-based video storage. Committee discussion included three implementation paths: issue a district request-for-proposal (RFP) to require future contractors to install and support the technology; have the district purchase and own the equipment (fund 49 was identified as eligible for district-owned equipment); or accept a vendor-led investment (Lamers, the district’s current transportation partner) that would add daily per-bus fees.

Allie (staff member) said Lamers told district staff it would upgrade its core transportation system at no cost and offered to purchase advanced hardware, but that “they own that technology and they will take it wherever they choose to take it.” Committee members raised concerns that vendor-funded purchases could become a permanent daily charge baked into future operating fees if not constrained contractually.

Committee members reviewed cost examples presented during the meeting. The proposal included a daily operating fee option of $3.88 per bus per day for cloud-based enhanced cameras; the committee used that figure to estimate an annual operating cost of about $22,003.48 if applied to a 32-bus fleet. Staff said the parent-tracking application would cost less than $10,000 for initial implementation; Lamers agreed to upgrade district systems to allow parent access at no additional charge. Staff also noted that district-owned equipment could be paid from fund 49 (eligible for districtwide equipment), while vendor investments would be added to the contractor invoice as operating costs.

The committee approved the motion to proceed with purchasing the parent-tracking app and enhanced cameras and to fund the initial cost through Zoom savings and other onetime reallocations. The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. The committee directed staff to refine contract language and return cost and contracting details so the board can ensure any vendor-funded option does not create indefinite added daily fees without limits.

Speakers who discussed the transportation topic included Steve (staff member), Allie (staff member), Dr. Brown (staff member), Rebecca (board member), Cameron (board member), Don (board member), Robert (board member), Jack (board member), and Katie (board member). The vendor discussed in the meeting is Lamers (transportation contractor).

Ending: Staff will return with firm quotes, recommended contract language to limit long-term vendor billing risks, and a plan for phased implementation. The committee emphasized it can implement the parent app and parts of the camera plan in phases and revisit the broader scanner/badge option later in an RFP.