BY KARISSA MILLER

Mooresville Graded School District Superintendent Jason Gardner on Tuesday requested that Iredell County commissioners adopt an ordinance creating civil penalties for passing a stopped school bus.

Speaking on behalf of MGSD and Iredell-Statesville Schools officials, Gardner explained that Senate Bill 55, which was signed into law in 2017, authorizes Boards of Commissioners to create an ordinance establishing fines for the owners of vehicles that pass a stopped school bus.

Under this bill, North Carolina school districts can install cameras on buses to capture photos of drivers and their license plates, which would result in a citation for the owner of the vehicle.

The civil fine for the first offense is $400, which increases to $750 for a second violation and $1,000 for subsequent violations. Late payment fees can also be assessed.

“This is an issue we’ve been combating for several years,” Gardner said. “We’re hoping to find additional support.”

I-SS Superintendent Jeff James, who backs the effort, said that I-SS has had three close calls recently. In two high-profile incidents, motorcyclists passed stopped I-SS buses.

“To me, it’s a time bomb waiting to go off. Someone is going to get hit and killed,” James said, noting that the district experiences 30 to 40 bus violations each day.

Gardner said that both MGSD and I-SS would work with a third party to implement the new penalties.

I-SS has some bus camera upgrades that must be completed; however, MGSD has already upgraded its camera system.

Civil fines would be shared between the districts and their vendor. All of the funds generated for the districts would be earmarked for transportation and camera costs.

Background

Gardner told commissioners that school safety is a core value for both districts. At the end of the 2024 academic year, MGSD utilized safety grant funding from the state to upgrade all of its existing bus cameras.

“This allowed us to better understand and document a problem we knew we had. It really shed some light to how severe that problem is,” Gardner explained.

According to MGSD Transportation Director Jonathan Farmer, the district has had 511 stop arm violations, among a district of 6,000 students, as of March 4, 2025.

“As our concern grew, as you can imagine, we started to have a collaborative conversation with Iredell-Statesville Schools to find a solution,’ Gardner said.

The MGSD superintendent said that the school system has also pushed for school safety, including community education, increased communication, increased patrols, collaboration with NCDOT and by spreading the word through media outlets about the district’s concerns.

Barriers to Enforcement

Gardner outlined some of the barriers to enforcement. He said that the public’s perception is that it should be easy to figure out who ran past a stopped school bus.

That’s not always the case.

“We need positive identification of the driver to move forward with a stop-arm violation,” Gardner explained. “Sometimes we get that, but sometimes there could be a sun glare, different angles and other things like that and we can’t identify the driver.”

The current process involves uploading footage and then identifying and locating the registered owner, which is handled by Mooresville Police Department, he said.

“It can be a time-consuming process (for Mooresville Police) to track down that person. They might not be at home or from this area,” Gardner said.

Commissioners Feedback

Commissioner Gene Houpe asked if the driver or the owner of the vehicle would be fined under the proposed ordinance. Gardner explained that the owner would receive the fine. However, the owner could appeal the fine, he added.

Gardner said MGSD staff members have spoken with officials with the Harnett County school system, which has an ordinance. A committee handles appeals each month in Harnett County.

Commissioner Brad Stroud said he supported the ordinance, calling it a life-or-death situation.

“I’m astounded by the number — 511. We need to do this sooner not later,” Stroud said.

“We’ve got to make sure we get it right. We need to work out the appeal process,” Chairman Bert Connolly added.

The board, which agreed through consensus, asked County Manager Beth Milton to gather more information about Harnett County’s appeal process. Milton plans on bringing this back for discussion at their next meeting.

The board indicated that a public hearing would be announced and held if they decide to implement the proposed ordinance.