Imagine a world such as the one in George Orwell's classic, futuristic novel, 1984, where your every move is scrutinized and every conversation overheard.
That is the reality today in some schools around the country, where video surveillance equipment is being used in the name of security to curb vandalism and violence. The controversy surrounding cameras in the classroom involves school safety versus privacy for teachers as well as students.
According to The New York Times, nearly 1,000 new public schools opened in 2002 and 75 percent of them were equipped with surveillance cameras. Schools in California, Virginia, Maryland, New York and New Jersey have all installed or will install camera systems to keep schools and students safe.
In the Biloxi, Mississippi school district, one of the first districts in the nation to install cameras in the classroom, the circular domes on the ceiling might be mistaken for light fixtures or a fire alarm system. They are actually digital web cameras that record images onto a computer hard disk. School administrators and security personnel can then access the Internet and monitor students and teachers.
Gone are the days of getting away with throwing spitballs, dozing in class, starting a fight or using a cheat sheet. The students in all public schools in this Mississippi school district are now subject to instant replay when it comes to discipline problems, so lying isn't an option.
School violence justify cameras
You can hardly pick up a newspaper or turn on the nightly news without hearing about violence in our nation's schools. Ever since the school shooting incident at Columbine High School in 1999, newspaper headlines would lead the public to believe that there are more incidents of violence in our schools today than ever before. Some argue the increased violence in schools justifies the need for increased security and cameras in classrooms.
On the counter side however, in a 2001 article, U.S. News & World Report stated that the murder rate for juveniles was the lowest since 1966, and "the odds of being killed in school are less than 1 in 2 million." According to New York Times Upfront, a news magazine for teens, more people die from being stung by bees than from being shot in school.
Eye on West Milford, NJ
According to Robert Gilmartin, superintendent of the West Milford school district, camera surveillance systems have been installed in his district at school entrances for the protection and safety of the students. All campus visitors are screened and properly identified. At the high school, there are also cameras in the hallways, stairwells, the cafeteria, the exterior of the building and on some buses. There are, as yet, no cameras in the classrooms.
Gilmartin supports a student's right to privacy, but believes that cameras are necessary in the common areas of the schools to protect property and the general safety of the student body, which he says "takes precedence over privacy." However, he does not believe cameras in the classroom are necessary.
Pointing to the benefits of security cameras, Gilmartin recalled a recent incident at the high school where a classroom door lock was vandalized.
"I looked at the security camera records and was able to observe and identify the person who committed the act of vandalism," he said. "Camera records are only checked as part of a specific investigation," Gilmartin added.
Gilmartin believes that limited forms of surveillance systems may be a trend in the future for schools, but the question of affordability and cost-effectiveness for each district will be a factor.
Going too far
At Livingston Middle School in Overton County, Tennessee, cameras have even invaded the privacy of the locker room. A camera was placed in both the girls' and boys' locker rooms because school administrators were concerned that students were sneaking out of gym class. Although the cameras were pointed at the doors leading outside, the wide-angle lens picked up the images of more than a dozen 10-to-14-year-old students changing their clothes.
The pictures of children undressing were accessed over the Internet nearly 100 times by non-authorized people because the school did not change the access codes from the original factory settings. Parents of the students, angry over the loss of privacy for their children, filed lawsuits in federal court against the Overton County School Board for several million dollars in damages. The case is still pending.
What about the right to privacy?
While the Tennessee case is extreme, it does raise the question of privacy for both students and teachers. Some teachers and civil rights organizations have questioned whether in the quest to make schools safer, school administrators are going too far by invading the privacy of students with cameras and other security devices. Some even ask whether students have any privacy rights at all.
According to David Rubin, a Metuchen attorney who specializes in school law, students (and teachers) have privacy rights, but classroom activities are not considered private and are sometimes observed by administrators or parents.
"Cameras themselves are not violations of the law unless they invade the private space of an individual," Rubin explained. "There may be an educational concern about cameras, but not a legal one," he added, "unless the camera recordings are used for purposes other than school security, and accessed by unauthorized people."
In most privacy cases at the state or federal level, there is a general agreement by the courts that students in a school setting have less privacy rights than when they are outside of school.
What some teachers think
Some teachers believe the use of surveillance cameras in classrooms helps improve student behavior and raises test scores. Others feel they are an invasion of the teacher-pupil relationship and are concerned about the camera's effect on children. Some instructors wonder if the cameras might eventually be used to judge their own teaching methods.
In an Associated Press article, Maryann Graczyk, president of the Mississippi American Federation of Teachers, said that she is "worried about how the cameras would affect teacher rapport with students." Melissa Anderson of the National Education Association told USA Today, "...If the watching [of Webcams in the classroom] results in a constant stream of complaints about teachers and their style [and] presentation of material, then it could be an interference."
Steve Lilienthal, director of the Free Congress Foundation in Washington, D.C., worries about what camera surveillance is teaching students. He told The New York Times, "putting cameras on children trains them to believe that being watched every minute of the day is okay. They should be teaching them to behave not because a camera is on them, but because it's the right thing to do."
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