Without a doubt, one of the top concerns of parents when sending their kids off to school is safety.

And although the Johnston School Department switched bus companies this year, awarding a new contract to First Student, most of the drivers and staff are the same.

Location manager John Brown, who served in the same role with Durham last year, and Johnston resident Joe Najmowicz, who was reassigned to his hometown for the new school year, provided an informational tour of one of the new buses being used in Johnston this year.

Among the safety features are a digital camera for monitoring riders, an alarm that senses unauthorized entry onto the bus, and a system that requires the driver to do a visual inspection of the entire bus and deactivate the warning alerts to ensure that no children are left on the vehicle.