Conditioning 101

Here is how to get the next generation used to a Big Brother police State. Once they are conditioned to it, this loss of freedom will seem "normal".
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Who's watching the class? Webcams in schools raise privacy issue
By Greg Toppo
USA TODAY


When students in Biloxi, Miss., show up this morning for the first day of the new school year, a virtual army of digital cameras will be recording every minute of every lesson in every classroom.

Hundreds of Internet-wired video cameras will keep rolling all year long, in the hope that they'll deter crime and general misbehavior among the district's 6,300 students -- and teachers.

''It helps honest people be more honest,'' says district Superintendent Larry Drawdy, who, along with principals and security officers, can use a password to view classrooms from any computer. In an emergency, police also can tune in.

So far, Biloxi is the only school district in the nation to install Webcams in every classroom -- nearly 500 so far. But school districts in cities nationwide and in England are experimenting with classroom Webcams for security reasons, installing the affordable cameras in hallways and selected classrooms and planning devices for future schools. One security firm says it's negotiating with an undisclosed urban district to install 15,000 cameras so security personnel can keep an eye on classes, hallways and parking lots.

Almost anywhere they go these days, Americans are on camera: at work, on the road, at public events. Why should schools be different?

They shouldn't, Drawdy and others say. He adds that students, teachers and parents in the small Gulf Coast community don't mind them at all.

But privacy advocates, teachers' groups and others worry about putting classes under an all-day microscope. Some say cameras could be misused and interfere with teaching, and others fear that districts using them could become complacent about security.

Though Biloxi's camera system hasn't captured serious crimes, Drawdy says it has ''prevented a lot of things from happening'' and helped principals sort out minor offenses such as classroom thefts that could have led to time-consuming, intrusive investigations.

He says the cameras, which were installed over the past three years, can be an unblinking eye supporting teachers in disputes.

But Curt Lavarello, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, says all those cameras actually could make schools less safe. ''We lose the direct, one-to-one contact that is so critically needed,'' he says. Relying on cameras ''can't become the replacement for the human factor.''

Unlike traditional, closed-circuit video cameras, Webcams can display images on virtually any Internet-connected computer. A principal or superintendent can view pictures from home or even on the road. Because images are stored on hard drives instead of videotapes, several days of footage can be catalogued and reviewed.

The systems cost about half as much as closed-circuit TV, says Fredrik Nilsson of Axis Communications, a Swedish manufacturer that is negotiating with the undisclosed large urban district to purchase 15,000 cameras, about 150 per school. Atlanta school officials are expected to vote tonight on installing 2,000 cameras in school hallways and parking lots. At Canton High School near Jackson, Miss., 27 Webcams patrol hallways and parking lots; officials will install another 45 in classrooms this fall.

Webcams have popped up in a few Defense Department schools on U.S. military bases, allowing soldiers deployed overseas to look in on their children's classrooms and even chat via two-way setups. Teachers in London are calling for Webcams in every classroom so parents can see children's behavior from home.

Roy Balentine of CameraWATCH Corp., the Mississippi company that installed Biloxi's cameras, says many school officials are overburdened by big campuses.

''You can't be everywhere at all times, but if you've got some extra eyes there helping you look, that's the next best thing,'' he says. ''Cameras are a lot more affordable than extra people in most cases.''

Balentine was principal at Pearl High School in Mississippi in October 1997 when student Luke Woodham killed two students and wounded seven. Balentine says he doesn't believe video surveillance could have prevented that attack or other high-profile school shootings. But he says cameras are helpful for safety and for ''informal observations'' of teachers.

That's what worries critics, who say such recordings could be used for other purposes: What if a parent complains that a teacher uses class time to promote birth control or drug use, or even terrorism?

''You've, in essence, got a complete record of your teaching,'' says Clark Kelso of the University of the Pacific's Mc-George School of Law in Sacramento. ''There's enormous pressure on the district to say, 'Let's go see what's on that videotape.' ''

Says Melinda Anderson of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union: ''This is a new area, so we don't have a lot of experience with it.'' She says Webcams could help connect schools and families, but in districts where contracts limit teacher observation, camera policies should reflect that.

''Webcams would move us toward an environment of open-ended, all-day, all-the-time access to classrooms,'' she says. ''You can argue that 'just watching it' does not interfere with teaching and learning, but if the watching results in a constant stream of complaints about teachers and their style, presentation of material, then it could become an interference.''

Drawdy says the cameras are there for safety -- ''for supervision and not snoopervision.'' But the images could be used by others to evaluate teachers, he concedes. ''If you've got unscrupulous administrators, that's always a possibility. But if we're going to act as professionals, then we should not be doing something in the classroom that we would be afraid to be on camera.''

Parents see the system as just another way to keep an eye on kids, says Biloxi school board member Madelon Gruich, a mother of four. ''I've never had a negative comment about it,'' she says. ''As a parent, I don't have a bit of a problem with it. I expect my children to behave.''

But mention classroom Webcams to privacy advocates and they get the creeps. ''It seems like you can't opt out,'' says Dan Farmer of Elemental Security in San Mateo, Calif., who has advised Congress on Internet privacy and security issues. ''That's troubling.''


Not everyone worries. One Science teacher who kept Webcams running in his classroom for four years says critics should relax.

''I'm there to work; I'm there to do my job,'' says R. Scott Page, an earth Science and photography teacher at Hanford High School in Richland, Wash. ''I don't have a problem with somebody seeing that I'm doing my job.''

Page, a former biology teacher, granted open access to anyone who wanted to view his classroom, no password required. He says families tuned in regularly and loved it. ''You could see if the kid was wearing the same thing they left the house in that morning.''

Page often focused the camera on lab experiments so he and students could monitor them over the weekend. Students would log on when they were home sick, sending messages with questions.

''Any way that you can increase communication between home and school, you're going to help students,'' Page says. ''That's what it's all about.''

Page, who unhooked the cameras after switching classrooms last winter, says he'd oppose using Webcams to provide evidence in a dispute between student and teacher. ''If it gets to the point where my word against students' isn't good, then I go find another job,'' he says.

Meanwhile, Drawdy says workers just added a third camera to Biloxi's high school gym after realizing that two weren't enough.

''You think you've got all the spots pretty well taken care of, but there's always a blind spot somewhere.''Cover story
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