PISD pilot program reducing discipline issues on bus routes- By PAUL STONE Palestine Herald-Press

PALESTINE — Now in its second year of a pilot program, Palestine school officials say "School Bus TV" has produced positive results in reducing disciplinary problems on selected bus routes. The School Bus TV system is comprised of a 26-inch LCD television mounted in the front of a bus that plays commercial-free, multimedia content provided by partners such as NASA, TeenKidsNews and others. Palestine is one of less than a dozen school districts in the state piloting the program, according to Mansur Plumber, who lives in the Dallas area and developed the unique program. Other Texas school districts showing School Bus TV on some of their buses include Comal, Commerce, Crandall, Garland, Greenville and Splendora. Jeffrey Hatfield, operations director for the Palestine Independent School District, said two buses were outfitted with the equipment last spring. Three buses used to transport the district’s special education students are currently having the equipment installed and should be operational by sometime next week, bringing the PISD’s total to five buses. Hatfield explained the system has many applications, adding that a student project, such as a podcast or videocast, could potentially be shown on the equipped buses. Suitable material could also be downloaded from the internet and shown to the riders, he added. Plumber, the CEO of AdComp Systems, said all of the clips shown on School Bus TV are five minutes or less. The programming draws students to sit in the front or middle of the bus which helps alleviate some potential discipline problems, he added. "It’s much better for the kids to be sitting towards the front of the bus," Mansur told the Herald-Press. "Some of these have been (placed by other districts) on the worst routes with the worst discipline problems. We have hundreds and hundreds of videos provided by companies like NASA and the Dairy Foundation." Mansur said the videos address numerous topics, including obesity, bullying, exercising and other social issues. "It’s not the regular stuff kids would go home and voluntarily watch like Disney Channel," Mansur stated. The initial two PISD buses with the TV system includes a rural route and an in-town route, according to Hatfield. PISD Superintendent Dr. Thomas A. Wallis said School Bus TV gives students the opportunity to learn, while also allowing them to focus on something besides each other. "They show them science clips, math clips and bullying clips," Wallis said. "While they’re on a bus for two hours from Montalba, they’re not just sitting there getting bored and irritated." It costs roughly $2,000 to equip a bus with the TV equipment. Hatfield said the PISD will consider equipping more buses with School Bus TV in the future. "We will continue to add if we see value," Hatfield said.

Paul Stone may be contacted via e-mail at pstone@palestineherald.com