In January 2014, sixteen video cameras were delivered to the Washington County School District in Tennessee, one for each school and one for the central office. The district didn't purchase the equipment as part of a school security improvement plan. Washington County, it turned out, had been selected as one of 20 districts across the state to pilot a new program to record classroom interactions and use the clips to help determine teacher effectiveness.
So what happened? A little transparency might have gone a long way, but it was in short supply in Washington County. District administrators approved the project without notifying school staff or parents. Curious and persistent educators were able to pry some information out of the district, but details remained scarce. Questions piled up quickly. Who paid for the cameras? What are these videos being used for specifically? Who would have control over the cameras? Where are these clips being stored and who is going to see them?
Spy Cam Elementary School Toilet
Whether they are planted in a classroom, scattered throughout the school or both, video cameras provoke wildly polarized reactions. One group envisions a safe and secure school and a happy teaching staff using video to improve practice and excitedly sharing "eureka" moments with their colleagues. The other is horrified at the thought of schools being transformed into invasive, zero privacy zones, staffed by suspicious educators, intimidated by the judging and unforgiving eye of a video camera in their classroom.
Most educators probably sit somewhere in the middle. While they recognize the role video cameras play in school security, they have serious and valid concerns over privacy and the impact an excess of surveillance can have on school climate. And although teachers can benefit from the observation and reflection that a sensible use of cameras can cultivate, the situation gets dicey if clips are used to evaluate performance and cameras are there to merely snoop.
Video cameras are an inescapable presence in public schools across the country and the vast majority are purchased to bolster school security. The installation of interior and exterior cameras, became more commonplace after the Columbine shooting in 1999, and spiked again after Sandy Hook in 2012.
Consider the Belleville school board in Belleville, New Jersey. In the Fall of 2013, it embarked on a breathtakingly clumsy but audacious effort when it contracted with Clarity Systems to install $2 million worth of state-of-the-art video and audio surveillance technology to monitor virtually every corner of the district's eight schools - including classrooms, hallways, and staff rooms.
"This equipment is unbelievable. The cameras can zoom into what book you're holding or how much money you're paying the cafeteria lady," explains Mike Mignone, a math teacher at Belleville Middle School and president of the Belleville Education Association. "And the audio capabilities can pick up any conversation you have with a colleague. Staff were walking around school like zombies, afraid to say or do anything!"
District officials insisted the equipment was installed to merely improve student safety, but staff and parents didn't buy it. The cameras were just another salvo, educators insisted, from a school board and superintendent bent on intimidation, which was on full-display when they filed trumped up tenure charges against Mignone after he denounced the district's decision.
The climate surrounding the cameras in the classroom project in Washington County, TN - while unquestionably less toxic than the fiasco in Belleville - still prevented any flow of communication from the district to parents and school staff.
"The district just didn't think this through properly," says Janice Allen, an elementary school teacher and vice-president of the Washington County Education Association. "There were still a lot of unanswered questions" - including whether the video was going to be used in research to support dubious methods of teacher evaluation.
Addressing the pitfalls of cameras in the classroom, Jack Hassard, a former high school teacher, current professor at Georgia State University and education blogger, wrote in 2011: "Video can be an effective tool for teachers only if they are in control of how, when, and why video technology is used in their classroom ... Cameras in the classroom will not lead to the improvement of teaching, especially if they are used to evaluate teachers using a system that is basically flawed from the beginning... Using video to evaluate teacher performance is overly behaviorist, and reduces teaching to a set of skills that some trained observer looks for when viewing a video tape."
In a statement, South Bay Union Superintendent Jose Espinoza told CBS 8, "South Bay Union School District takes employee safety and security very seriously. We were shocked to learn of the allegations of employee misconduct at one of our schools. The District fully cooperated with law enforcement in its investigation of this matter. We have not received any information from law enforcement on criminal charges regarding the allegations in our district, nor do we have information on criminal charges unrelated to the incident in South Bay Union. In order to protect the privacy rights of all individuals involved, the District is unable to comment further at this time."
The laws and regulations on this matter vary from state to state and can differ even further since certain schools have their separate codes of conduct that might prohibit the use of hidden cameras. As a general rule, make sure you have all the information regarding school rules and make sure to head over to our guide on laws and regulations to get all the details.
Another important point is that any footage obtained without consent or in areas where REP is presumed is inadmissible in a court of law and may incriminate the person recording. We strongly advise you to resort to hidden cameras only to resolve any qualms that you might have; e.g. to make sure that your child is subject to bullying or harassment. In the case that this is indeed happening, consult the local and/or school authorities and proceed accordingly.
With a rise in kidnappings, gun-toting classmates and an al-Qaida threat to kill a million American children, today's kids have a lot more to worry about when they return to school this fall than math assignments.
Authorities and Vancouver Public Schools have searched both schools and found no active hidden cameras. Meanwhile, the district says they are continuing periodic searches of restrooms and locker room spaces and are reviewing potential prevention methods for the future. 2ff7e9595c
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