Following several incidents of alleged mistreatment of students with disabilities, a grassroots movement is urging schools to install cameras in classrooms.
Parents from New Jersey to Texas are turning to the Internet to make their case that children with special needs — particularly those who are nonverbal and often unable to report problems — are far too vulnerable at school.
Tara Heidinger of Lakewood, Ohio sprung to action after her 8-year-old son, Corey, who has autism, came home with marks on his skin and said his teacher had been “mean” to him. Other students in the class indicated that the teacher grabbed Corey’s arm and screamed in his face when the boy got upset. School officials, however, did not believe the account since they said there was no proof.
Heidinger is one of several parents from across the country who have taken to Facebook and the online petition website Change.org to raise concerns and press schools to add video monitoring.
Despite privacy concerns, even some education groups concede it may be time to consider cameras, reports ABC News. To read more click here.
Thank you! We need camera’s in all special education classrooms for our children who cannot speak for themselves.
How about “Some” Special ed parents want cameras in classrooms? This one doesn’t and I’m pretty sure a lot of kids in special ed classrooms and their parents won’t be too quick to agree to this heavyhanded “solution” to the very real problem of abuse in the classroom. There are better ways short of putting big brother in the classroom all day every day. It is also far from clear where lines can and should be drawn. Non-verbal kids only? Mixed? LD classes? How about High Schools? It is a hugely invasive proposition to subject special ed kids to full time recording. Keep in mind that your local school district would be responsible for all aspects of a program like this, own the data, and do whatever it wants with the recorded information (think cherry picking at “due process” hearings). Recording also effectively makes the disabled person’s behaviors “public” information for any and all to see. The presumption of “privacy” here is naive. I believe and hope self advocates will be up in arms (and rightly so) about this misguided initiative to single out disabled kids for recording.
Abuse in schools is real (and doesn’t always take place in the classroom*). Bullying is real and pervasive. Better classroom monitoring policies, more accountability on the part of administrations and school boards, better education of everyone in the school community who interacts with special ed students is a far better solution.
* I support school bus cameras for ALL vehicles transporting students but especially the busses who carry special ed students outside the school campus into the community at large, which is a big difference versus a classroom controlled by policies and consistent regulation.
Well, I encountered some bus-based bullying in my time. School-based, too, though I was mainstreamed so the cameras wouldn’t have done me much good. Further, the cameras can’t themselves intervene to prevent abuse, bullying, or other such problems–they’re only as good as the folks monitoring them or at least preserving & reviewing the recordings.
Cherry-picking the use of the video (using it for disciplining students *only*, for instance) is a credible concern, especially in jurisdictions that prohibit private recording (for instance, in Pennsylvania it’s illegal to tape someone without xyr knowledge & consent). In a DP hearing one could probably demand the entire recording in discovery–certainly, if the school proposed to use any portion–so I’m slightly less worried about schools only using parts that reflect positively on the teacher.
(Now, data retention & e-discovery…that’ll be a lovely budget item!)
So. I’m inclined to support Dadvocate’s call for increased accountability before simply installing cameras. Schools routinely acknowledging that school authorities can be bad actors*, or simply wrong, would be an excellent step toward improving the culture. Not speaking for any other self-advocate, though, and a little piqued at his invoking us. We can & do speak for ourselves, which is the point behind the “self-advocacy” label and all that.
*My favorite example is the HS student handbook that explicitly limited bullying to student-on-student conduct. It was impossible for a teacher to bully a student at that high school! Never mind that a teacher was aware of a student’s trigger and deliberately triggered the student when feeling that the student wasn’t quite up to the teacher’s expectations…even though it would have been a clear case of bullying had it been done by another student, it was OK for the teacher. That kid learned a lot from the experience, I’m sure.
I’m not sure what I think about this, but I do know that if one has an attorney in a due process or other type of proceeding, he/she should be able to get the whole tape during discovery. I don’t believe the school would get to cherry pick without first providing the entire tape and any other tape to the parent.
I would love to see cameras installed so that parents could see what is going on in the classrooms. I volunteered for a special event and was shocked at how mean some of these special ed teachers could be to students. On this particular day I was with typical students streaming in all day long for an event and when the special ed students came in the entire atmosphere changed from fun loving to stress and fear. There was more screaming and roughness by teachers than I have ever witnessed; no smiles on anyones faces and I wished every mom could see what I saw. I sat in my car afterwards and cried! Very, Very sad!! I say go for the cameras and see what is really happening at school.
If you’re going to put cameras in special needs classrooms, then you must do it for all general ed classrooms. We need to trust the educators that work with our children. Having cameras in the classroom undermines them. I don’t want my children on camera. It would have to be really necessary to implement something like that.
Cameras are a basic necessity in Special Ed classes. This is not “Big Brother”, it is the parents, in particular, the parents of the students who cannot speak for themselves. In the realm of education, cameras are also necessary, not just for parents, but for other educators, therapists and specialists who could use that data to assess how well the individual students cope and progress.
I agree fully 100% that they needs cameras we thought something was wrong. We could make surprise visit at my daughters old school but her new school you have to set an appointment. That stupid I do surprise visits so I know she is not being hurt if I make an appointment then they can play nicey nice til I leave cameras are a very good idea. We are these kids voice and we should make are voices heard to keep them safe
I AM GLAD TO HEAR ABOUT CAMERAS IN SPECIAL ED. CLASSES. THEY ARE NEEDED . I HOPE THESE PARENTS DON’T GIVE UP. KEEP UP PUSHING TILL YOU GET THEM CAMERAS IN THOSE ROOMS !!!!
It is a moot point. The all powerful teachers’ unions would never permit this.
I’m not sure how I feel about cameras in the classroom. I see both the good and the bad but we also provide our own aide and don’t use the school aides so we already have an added layer of “protection” (she works for us and not the school).
In PA it is NOT illegal to tape someone without their knowledge as a previous comment stated. It IS illegal to audio tape someone in PA without their knowledge. We do have cameras in my home because we have caregivers that help with my daughter and though I’m not concerned with the care of my daughter, it is surprising how many people steal. Concerning school, I would think that if you had cameras in the classroom you would want the audio too. Someone may not be physically abusing a person but may be verbally abusing them which I think would happen more than physical abuse.
My daughter is autistic and we have had wonderful teachers and horrible teachers, it is as simple as that. Unfortunately, the horrible teachers have tenure so getting the administration to do anything about it is almost impossible. Her IEP is routinely ignored in the name of “teaching to the test” and just this week she came home and said that her teacher had yelled at her and made her cry. When I asked the teacher, she admitted making her cry – so now what do I do? If I pursue this, my child is stuck in the classroom with a teacher who clearly doesn’t mind making an autistic child cry and defends herself when she does it. A camera in the class would show clearly what had happened and there would be no question of what truly happened. My daughter can only tell me that the teacher was mean, called her names, and made her cry. The teacher had justification and accusations against my daughter that was longer than this post. It is not a level playing field – these adults, who should understand and be protective of these fragile students, are often cruel because they know that the kids can’t do very much in their own defense. I am seriously considering a recorder in her backpack – but how sad is it that I need to do that to protect my daughter?
If we place students with disabilities in general education- with supports-chances are these instances of abuse will stop since other children are witnesses. Not to mention, research for individuals with significant disabilities shows that once included-language and adaptive behavior improve. Why use cameras-use natural supports and settings. They are cheaper, lend to better instruction, and improve outcomes.
This is absurd. Anyone advocating for “cherry-picking” clearly has had no trouble with their child’s schooling. My son, placed in a non-monitored classroom was aggressive and came home in the same soiled pullup that I sent him to school in; on more occasions than should have been permitted. I dealt with it as all “old school” parents do and talked with the teachers and that got matters worse. The bruises came more and finally a busted face. Now, my son falls but nothing like the injury he received that day. I took him immediately to the doctor after I picked him up and was told his nasal passages were bruised and he would be sore for a few days. “Old school” parent or not, I wanted answers and the aides/teacher could not keep their story on the same page. The nurse report, that I had to ask for several times, came over a week later with “no signs of blood” at the bottom. You are following me on this right…”no signs of blood”, from the nurse. Following that, we crossed a used condom outside the FRONT DOOR of the school and THREE teachers standing outside were notified of it’s location. The next day, it was still there and moved about 3 feet (I don’t want to know how). Enraged at this point, I recorded the condom that I had just taken a picture of the day before and my 5 second trip to the front door of the school. At the front office I had to insist that someone go pick it up, while getting laughed at by the teacher who’s only response the day before was “Someone had a good time.” Following that was a LIST of phone calls to get my son out of there. I had to provide all of that evidence BEFORE they moved him from the school. Now, I ask you…what do you think happened for the 5 months he was in that school? I can tell you this, he moved to a new school and within a month was back to normal. He made friends and called his NEW teacher “buddy”. Cameras are needed and they are needed now. My daughter, who is verbal, told me after we left that horrible excuse for a school; that she often took “breaks” with other teachers…one of them being the first man I told about the condom. Over that following summer break, we found out that my son had a fractured foot “at some point” and nobody had any idea. Seriously people, it isn’t like we are asking to take…PICTURES of your children…oh, wait…they already do that. Talk about “cherry-picking”.
“Big Brother?” Your children are already in a government school! You are already suspending any rights to privacy you think your children have when you allow them to enter the front door.
At any rate, how can you be against cameras in the school itself; but you are alright with them on the buses? Your principles should not be situational? Either you are for the use of cameras or not.