Is My School's Security Over the Top?

Hey guys!

Although I've been hanging out around ATS for quite some time, I've never really had the courage to post lol. Before I start I just want to say this is the most eye opening, thought provoking place on the internet and filled with easily the smartest bunch of people around. I'm extremely happy that I found ATS. Anyway, I was wondering about what your opinions would be on this...

Throughout my entire time being in high school I have never noticed any surveillance cameras or any forms of security besides cops walking around the hallways. However, just recently my study hall had to be switched because of a change of schedule which landed me into a different room than before. I was really caught off guard and shocked when I first walked into this room because first of all it has seven very large TVs mounted on the walls and all these fancy surveillance gizmos throughout the room. I had never heard about or even seen this room ever, partially because its kind of hard to find.

While the other students and myself all are working, the man who's in charge of the room sits at his desk which has 3 fancy looking computers on it and never takes his eyes off the screen. Everyday usually four or so out of the seven televisions positioned on the walls show whats going on in other classes while on the other three we can watch ourselves in the classroom because there are also cameras watching us. Theres even a camera watching the camera guy. I was so puzzled that I had never heard of this room before and because of that I politely asked if I could check out what he was looking at on the computers. He said it was alright and when I asked how many cameras there were around my school he said 150. I was shocked. There were cameras with crystal clear audio and visual in color in every single classroom, inside bathrooms (not stalls), and all around the outsides of the building (bus stops, entrances, exits, parking lots).

Today however, I left the room much more nervous and shaken up then the previous time because On every single television set I watched seven different classes taking place. The security officer (I don't know what else to call him) just kept focusing on different TVs and would flip on the audio for one, zoom in incredibly close to peoples desks and READ WHAT PEOPLE WERE WRITING! On top of that he was even isolating peoples voices and listening to what people were saying. Myself and the other people in my study hall heard other classmates saying some pretty personal things also that I'm sure weren't intended to be shared with other people. Everyone else seemed to think this was hilarious but the security officer wasn't laughing, he had a dead serious look on his face and appeared to be doing some dead serious spying.

I'm just incredibly ticked off because for one thing my school is falling apart badly (ceilings leak, no heating, everything is filthy, walls are rotting), and yet the school is always asking for donations to help fix things up when it seems to me that MOST of the money has been spent on this state of the art surveillance system designed to spy on STUDENTS! Nobody seems to question the school, see whats so bad about big brother watching everything we do, or even care for that matter. It's also rather strange that I remember getting into class conversations about security at school and when asked the teachers would always deny our school having cameras.

When I told my dad he wasn't pleased either that his taxes were being spent on this garbage or that my school denies having cameras. So my question to all of you guys is is this legal? Are our rights as students being abused? What are our rights as high school students? Is this something new?

Thanks!


[edit on 2-4-2008 by Stonefree386]

I'm sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum I didn't know whether to write it in "Education and Media" or this one. I also apologize for this short post.

that's just plain scary. I would have never thought they would use that technology in high schools. Looks like all us high school students are "terrorists" now to.

I never went to public high school I've always been in christian school. At the schools I went to they had cameras in every room and barbed wire around all the fences, and the gates only remained open after school. And this is high school. I know they take these precautions because of their over the top religous beliefs, but I have no idea why they would have cameras like that in public high school.

Originally posted by theendisnear69
I would have never thought they would use that technology in high schools. Looks like all us high school students are "terrorists" now to.

I also feel like with all of these school shootings that have been especially frequent in the past couple years, this creates another area that big brother can invade. Maybe the reason why we have been hearing about so many school shootings in the news isn't because more are occurring, but rather just because if the news figures if it reports more, it will create a higher level of fear. I'm not trying to imply that with all these school shooting incidents security shouldn't be a concern or enforced to a degree, but I think the government really tries to go to unnecessary lengths to "protect" us.

This is my field and I don't think your telling the truth.

I'm sorry to doubt you, but almost everything you said would be illegal...

reply to post by LockwithnoKey


and so is the war in iraq

nothing will stop them

Originally posted by theendisnear69
reply to post by LockwithnoKey

 

and so is the war in iraq

nothing will stop them

LMAO! Good call!

Did you ever try to find out where the cameras were located after you saw live video of them in that special room? Did you try and tell your fellow students about this? Anyway the snoop sure sounds like he has the world's most boring job. How do you force yourself to pay attention to the monitors for eight hours a day?

ps
I've also heard the school buses are being bugged now too.

Originally posted by LockwithnoKey
This is my field and I don't think your telling the truth.

I'm sorry to doubt you, but almost everything you said would be illegal...

I am not lying about what happened, that I promise. Which parts of what I said would be illegal for the school to do? I'd be very interested to see what is illegal about what they are doing so that if ever this situation happened again I could confront someone.

Originally posted by starviego
Did you ever try to find out where the cameras were located after you saw live video of them in that special room? Did you try and tell your fellow students about this? Anyway the snoop sure sounds like he has the world's most boring job. How do you force yourself to pay attention to the monitors for eight hours a day?

ps
I've also heard the school buses are being bugged now too.

It was last period of the day so I had to catch my bus and didn't have a chance to really explore, but when I was at the bus stop I was looking all around for cameras and couldn't find any. Tomorrow I'll make sure to keep an eye out for them. I honestly wouldn't be shocked in the least if school buses were being bugged because many buses already have video cameras rolling.

reply to post by Stonefree386


I'm not interested in giving a full lesson on surveillance law, especially with not knowing what state your in.

But...for a start. Ya can't have monitoring equipment in a bathroom, nor can you have sound recording the classrooms.

There's plenty more reasons why what you say you saw simply can't be.

Good luck next time...

[edit on 4/2/2008 by LockwithnoKey]

Following the school shooting at SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland, OH(10-10-07):

www.cleveland.com/plainde...thispage=1

"Everyone attending high school athletic events or other extracurricular activities in the Cleveland school district will be required to pass through metal detectors and undergo scans with an electronic wand.

"The district is installing metal detectors in all 111 school buildings, following last month's shootings at SuccessTech Academy. All 16 high schools will also have X-ray screening machines.......

"......security officials..... began a review of the Cleveland district's safety procedures. Their assessment will be used to plan a new security policy for the district.

"The security team was assembled by the Council of Great City Schools based in Washington, D.C. Bob Carlson, the agency's director of management services, said members interviewed school commanders and officers Wednesday.... ."


[Comment: School commanders? Back in the old days, the local school board ran the school system. And the guy in charge was called the principle. When did we hand over control of our schools to the police? I guess it's just lucky for the guys(who want to take away our fourth amendments rights under the guise of 'safety') that these school shooting incidents keep occuring. But like Asa Coon himself wrote, it's all about creating a "new world order of tomorrow."]

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Hey StoneFree,

Ask the snoop who the "school commander" is at your school.




[edit on 2-4-2008 by starviego]

A little off-topic here but I just found this:

I put "school commander" into a search engine and came upon this link:
www.ebasedprevention.org/uploadedFiles/robbs/Media...


"Ohio Schools Template
Media Officer PIO
For "All Hazard"
School Crisis Situations"

Important: If emergency responders/health officials want students to be moved: Evacuate students to an uphill and/or crosswind location from the school. If a person has been contaminated, communicate with local health agency and emergency medical services to establish a route from the area of contamination to the emergency ambulance location. This area should be kept clear and restricted for use only to evacuate contaminated persons.

[Funded in part by funds provided by the Ohio Department of Education, through Federal Funding from the Safe Schools and Communities Act.]

-------------------

So the question then becomes, WHY IS THE STATE OF OHIO PLANNING FOR A WMD ATTACK ON THEIR SCHOOLS? Do they know something we don't know?????

Originally posted by LockwithnoKey
reply to post by Stonefree386

 

But...for a start. Ya can't have monitoring equipment in a bathroom, nor can you have sound recording the classrooms.



[edit on 4/2/2008 by LockwithnoKey]

Then they broke the law twice lol. The cameras in the bathrooms weren't inside the stalls though from what I saw just focusing on the area where the sinks were. Do you know whether or not they are recording?