North Penn committee weighs classroom camera pilot for students who are nonverbal; legal and privacy hurdles remain

Dr. Bauer, a district administrator and Safe Schools Committee member, told the committee that parents have requested cameras in classrooms where nonverbal students spend large portions of the school day, and the district is exploring options and limits.

"Some people advocate for cameras in classrooms at large and others more recently are advocating for cameras in classrooms, whereas nonverbal students, spend most of their day," Dr. Bauer said. He said the district already has cameras in common spaces and on buses, but not in regular academic classrooms. "It is my understanding that cameras in schools cannot have audio due to the PA wiretap law and, some of the privacy restrictions. We can have audio on buses. So our cameras and all of our buses do have audio, but any of the classroom cameras in our schools do not."

Legal counsel Mr. Summers told the committee that Pennsylvania's Wiretap Act and existing public-records and educational-records laws complicate any plan to place cameras with audio inside classrooms. "The Wiretap Act, is a Pennsylvania state law...the legislature specifically made an exception to the wiretap act for school buses," Summers said, adding that right-to-know requests and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) rules could mean recorded footage becomes subject to disclosure or parent access in disciplinary or educational-records contexts. "If the district were going to be denying those requests, you know, we could certainly have, potential litigation involving those issues, which is, you know, partly why legislation, exempting such videos from the right to know law would, would be the best outcome," Summers said.

Dr. Bauer said administration has met with parents who urged cameras, met with employee groups and is scheduling a larger meeting with parents and union leadership. He said facilities and technology staff have developed rough cost and equipment estimates and that the district will continue fact-finding. "We are actually having a big group meeting with some of the parents and, the leadership of the 2, employee groups next week, and we'll see how that conversation progresses," he said.

Committee members pressed for timing and scope. Dr. Bauer said a public presentation to the full board could occur in June and, if the board decides to move forward, a small pilot in the fall could be feasible: "We could, pull off for the fall. I think we could certainly pilot it in a few classrooms...If we're talking, say, 50, 60 classrooms...that might be a big lift...but I do think we could start on a small scale." He also said the district would aim for limited access to recordings (for example, directors of special education and security) and not a live public feed.

A public commenter, Jason Lanier of Lansdale, urged the district to rely on notice as a way to meet wiretap requirements: "Isn't that primarily regarding 2 party consent?... It makes sense then to say, here in North Bend School District, you can expect that we are recording you in the classroom. Problem solved," Lanier said. Summers replied that the bus audio exemption was enacted by the legislature and that audio in classrooms absent statutory authorization remains a legal gray area.

Ending: The committee did not vote to install cameras or adopt a policy at the meeting. Administration targeted a June work session for a formal presentation and said it will continue meeting with parents, union representatives and legal counsel while researching statutory and procedural options.