Cameras placed in locker room result in lawsuit.
Is that even LEGAL? How can they get away with that?
I would love to see how the school explains this one.
WHen I read this all I could think was, “Who in the world ever thought this was a good idea?”
Good Lord!
Someone needs a stiff penalty.
The administration voyeurs and pedophiles, that’s who
Well, we’re about done with the whole Catholic Church pedophilia scandal. I think it’s about time we loose the ravenous media dogs on Eductation.
They learn from the best!
You know, this is why education is going straight downhill in this country. I mean, the people in charge of the schools when I was there weren’t exactly rocket scientists, but my heavens, they look like Nobel prizewinners next to whoever dreamed THIS one up!
Gee, I wonder if this can be explained by the war on drugs, or maybe the war on terrorism… better be safe, and rally 'round the administration and support them in this.
Local analysis here
Slam dunk idiocy to have hidden cameras in locker rooms or bath rooms. Monstrous stupidity to have images accessible from the net.
Mama Tiger
…generalize much? :rolleyes:
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Utterly hideous. God, sometimes I just want to lay into these people with baseball bats…
The stupidity by the administration is one thing: school administrations are frequently filled with thoughtless, disrespectful assholes.
The fact that the security firm seemed to have no problem doing this without considering either legal consequences or just the rightness of the act is horrific.
And making images accessible on the internet? Yeah. Good thinking. Nobody could possibly use that for anything.
:rolleyes:
Who in their right mind would say “sounds good let’s go ahead and install them”??
That assistant principal sounds really creepy. I wonder if the parents at his new school are aware that he’s a voyeristic pervert.
If I lived near whatever school that assistant principal was transferred to, I’d be making damn sure parents knew exactly what happened to get him transferred there.
No kidding. We had to give written permission to have snapshots taken of our kid in the classroom for her kindergarten yearbook.
[hijack]Well, having seen the constant downward spiral of the type and quality of work my kids were expected to do in school versus what I was expected to do, yes, that’s my opinion. I remember having to write thoughtful, 10-page essays in 7th grade; my kids were being taught how to write formulaic PARAGRAPHS in 7th grade, and never had more than a 3-page paper assigned to them at ANY time in high school. And I’m talking about in five different high schools in five different states between the two of them. My son, who’s a truly gifted writer, actually had to retake the basic skills writing test in one state because his writing was so intelligent and creative that it fell outside their mandatory formula.
And we won’t even open the can of worms of the dumbing down of textbooks. My dad was a textbook editor for many years, however, so I can assure you I have firsthand knowledge of this as well.
I also have a good friend who’s an English professor at a well-known university who assures me that I am right on target, judging from what he’s seen in his 30 years of teaching.[/hijack]
Back to the OP: Thank heaven both my kids were in school pre-internet. I think I’d be tearing someone’s head off over this one!
It’s possible that he is a voyeuristic pervert, but the facts in the story don’t necessarily prove that.
Another alternative is that this school (like a lot of middle schools) has had problems with harrassment and bullying behavior in the locker rooms. The assistant principal thought that having hidden cameras to document the behavior would help with “catching” the culprits.
FWIW, the middle school in the school district I work for has about 12 cameras placed throughout the building. In this case, they are mostly used to monitor exterior doors to observe who is entering the building. There are a couple that monitor interior hallways. There are signs posted on exterior doors to that effect, and the tv monitors are in plain sight in the main office.
Until more facts become evident…I’ll chalk this episode up to stupidity rather than voyeuristic perversion.
Well, no. That’s not what you said.
You said:
IOW, one isolated incident in Tennessee (how many other stories of this type have you heard lately?) is proof that “education is going straight downhill in this country”.
That’s a generalization.
Well, I’m sure it began with justifications. “We live in terror of one of the little peckerheads bringing a howitzer to school and secretly assembling the thing in the locker room.”
…but I would certainly consider how the media would take this if the word ever got out that there were secret spy cams hidden in the kids’ locker areas.
In fact, I would consider it pretty much the end of my career if that ever got out, that I had okayed the things, much less ordered them installed.
Then again, I’m not a power-mad loony, like a few school officials I could name. Officials whose view of “reality” is not entirely compatible with the rest of us, if you know what I mean.
Unfortunately, that phrase above, “reasonable expectation of privacy,” is, as far as the law goes, a load of crap. Lawyers can argue that one until the cows come home. It’s still vague, and can be interpreted any number of ways. Hell, lots of people don’t think you really have ANY rights until you’re eighteen!
Still… I can’t help but wonder who’s going to go up in flames over THIS one.
It would have been a good thing if the torture and humiliation that went on in my JHS lockerroom was somehow recorded. Also the teachers/coaches who knew what went on, and did nothing – I’d like to have a tape of them standing by watching.
HOWEVER: the obvious privacy concern trumps this. And as for the pictures being available on the Internet, I would think the parents would have a pretty good case for a lawsuit. That should not go unpunished.