The Woodland Hills School District will start the academic year with a state-of-the-art security system tracking student activities.

The school board voted July 15 to buy the system of 154 high-resolution color cameras for $338,000 from Video-Insight, based in Houston, Texas. About 70 cameras will be installed in Woodland Hills Junior High School and 80 in the high school.

"We are fully confident this new video security system will keep our campuses safe," school board President Marilyn Messina said in a news release from the district.

"It does represent a sizable investment for the district. Yet, I think most in the community would agree that providing a secure environment for our faculty and students has to be a top priority."

In addition to higher visual resolution, the new cameras will feature sweep and zoom capabilities and multi-screen use and will run off of a Windows-based operating system.

The cameras also will allow for easier training, internal maintenance by district staff and links to allow viewing by local police departments.