If you’re a Manteca Unified School District student you soon might want to smile – you’re about to be on camera.
The Manteca Unified Board of Education is expected tonight to vote on entering into an agreement with a handful of companies that will outfit each district campus with a digital security system that will provide visual surveillance – with multiple camera locations at each school site to provide comprehensive coverage. It is something that has long been requested by parents and members of the community in the name of enhancing student safety.
With a budget of $1,646,819.68 – more than $956,000 of which will come from the district’s Measure G modernization bond – the proposed project being handled by the district’s IT department will likely save the district money because each school site is being addressed simultaneously as opposed to individual installations that would make acquiring the equipment more expensive.
Some Manteca Unified School sites already have cameras installed for security reasons, but the new system will allow cohesion across the board between school sites and how the information collected is stored and transported, and the new system will allow for future expansion when the district’s high school and elementary campuses increase their capacity to keep up with expected growth in various segments of the district.
Audio Innovations has been selected as the provider of the equipment necessary to complete the project – bids from six different companies were received, and each was weighted according to the district’s standards and expectations – and their $784,803.31 bid will require AMS.net’s $665,854.35 bid to install and configure the cameras across the district. A total of 31 recording servers will also be purchased from Dell at a cost of $168,141.90, and an additional $28,000 will be needed for software and switches that will complete the program.
According to the report prepared by IT Manager Colby Clark, the work on outfitting the district’s campuses could begin as early as Sept. 14 if the expenditure is approved by the Board of Education.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.