Newark Unified School District Installing Security Cameras at Schools

The Newark Unified School District will be installing new, high-definition security cameras at its schools next year to combat illegal activity that happens on school grounds, according a discussion with school board members.

The school district has some standard definition cameras installed. However, these are not enough to deter some from occupying school grounds for extra curricular activities.

“This weekend we had students on top of the roofs that the police chased away,” said Gary Stadler, NUSD Board member. “They’re breaking in through the roofs,” he added. 

Larry Simon, IT network manager for NUSD, announced Tuesday he had selected a camera vendor for the project out of the four that bid for the work. The school’s new cameras will have 1080p resolution and the capability to active upon motion detection. His partner on the project, Jenny Rios, of Vanir Construction, said they will prioritize installing them on the junior and high school campuses first. Subsequently, they will place them at the elementary schools in the district. 

42 cameras will be installed at Newark Junior High, while 61 will be placed at Newark Memorial High School, according to NUSD staff reports. The remaining budget for the project is $1,370,000, according to a presentation to the school board on August 20. Funding for this project came from the 2011 “Measure G” bond. 

The contract for the surveillance cameras was given to a company called Decotech Systems Inc., which bid $276,320.07 for the project, according to the contract the board approved on Tuesday and a memo dated November 1, 2013 from Elaine Wilson, NUSD chief business official, to the board. That memo declares the "total budget allocation for the Board approved low-voltage upgrades is $2,672,000." 

School Board Member Ray Rodriguez watched the discussion, astonished.

“I still can’t believe this is happening” Rodriguez said.

The project is scheduled to start in January 2014 and expected to take two months to complete.


Editor's note: This article was edited Thursday morning for clarity.