Surveillance Cameras In Schools and Other Public Places

The incessant popularity of surveillance in schools is growing, especially with the increase of school shooting incidents in the past decade. Schools are responding by implementing new technologies and programs as a way of tracking and watching students. There are supposedly several benefits from these new surveilling devices, however, it raises questions of how it affects the student’s privacy. New programs that monitor social media outside the classroom are known to be incredibly encroaching on the student’s personal lives.

The main desired outcomes of these practices are to increase the overall safety of the school and lessen problematic behaviors. Although some researchers support the use of surveillance in schools to improve discipline, academic success, and reduce vandalism, a majority argue that surveillance intrudes on the student’s privacy, decreases trust, and has little to no outcomes.

Schools enforce surveillance for a variety of reasons, most notably for safety measures. With an increase in the number of school shootings in the United States, some schools have begun to use precautions as a way of preventing similar incidents from occurring.

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Many schools have added security cameras in after the devastating shooting of Columbine in 1999 (CITE 4). Aside from cameras, several schools are beginning to use social media tracking programs as well to surveil students (CITE 7). Since the chance of a school shooting happening is extremely low, there is inadequate evidence to see if these security measures actually work (CITE 7). Security cameras such as CCTV’s are also used to track vandalism, theft, drug and alcohol abuse at school grounds (CITE 8).

Additionally, another common reason for schools to use surveillance is to improve academic performance. There is a lack of consistent studies that measure the correlation between academics and security, with some with positive outcomes and others with negative outcomes. Researchers from one study decided to test if visible security measures, for example, cameras and metal detectors, which are equipped in numerous schools have an impact on academics (CITE 1). They performed this experiment by gathering data from two surveys that included schools that have extreme security measures and surveillance versus schools that did not (CITE 1). The researchers collected data about the individual student’s grades, attendance, and aspirations after high school such as college (CITE 1). The results supported the claim that no visible security measures had improved academic performance or attendance in school (CITE 1).

Social media tracking programs are employed by schools that want to track the students outside of the classroom. There are various different companies that monitor social media of the students and teachers in a district such as Geo Listening, Varsity Monitor, Snaptrends, and Digital Fly (CITE 2). These third party applications note any red flags that appear on their social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat and alert the authorities of the school district (CITE 2). In 2013, a Californian school decided to utilize one of these applications to watch high school and middle school children’s social media (CITE 2). The school authorities confidently asserted that they are not “spying” on children or violating any school policies but rather trying to increase overall safety (CITE 2). The application, Geo Listening flags any posts that are questionable or indicates cyberbullying or hate (CITE 2). Varsity Monitor generally observes students in high school and college that have athletic scholarships and what they post online (CITE 2). Digital Fly more specifically scans social media to actively “monitor threats in real-time to help prevent the next incident before it happens” and find the people responsible for posting that content (CITE 2). However, these applications raise concerns regarding invasion of privacy and freedom of speech. New recent databases that have launched show people’s discipline history, mental history, and flagged social media posts which is majorly attacking privacy (CITE NPR).

There are numerous instances with students getting in trouble for posting something that may look suspicious but is done with harmless intent. Ever since the Parkland shooting, the presence of surveillance has greatly expanded in Florida. Some of the school districts in Florida have adopted softwares such as Social Sentinel and Gaggle (CITE NPR). Social Sentinel is another social media tracker which notifies schools whenever something that sounds like a threat is posted (CITE NPR). Similarly, Gaggle surveils social media and also emails and documents written on a school linked Google account (CITE NPR).

One of the major issues of these social media tracking softwares is that it suspects any words that may seem harmful. For example, a Twitter message as safe as “shooting hoops” could potentially get flagged for containing the word, “shooting”. A student could post something that has a certain connotation, but have it interpreted with a completely different meaning. Parents are concerned with having these new databases that keep a record history of past mistakes committed on social media (CITE 7). They are worried about how it might affect their child’s future or ability to get into college.

Opposers argue that with the introduction of surveillance results in the loss of trust. Having eyes constantly around can make students feel mistrusted when they are innocent (CITE 8). Excessive surveillance of children can lower their trust in authorities and parents. Constantly observing students from different levels causes a culture of social normalization. Children grow up with continual awareness that they are being watched everywhere they go (CITE 3). Students may feel like they need to hide certain things and think before posting. It comes with possible worry of getting in trouble for posting something that they see completely harmless which others may not. Experts state that school safety is better when peers trust each other and teachers (CITE 7).

With new increased surveillance techniques introduced into schools, there is little to no evidence that it improves safety (CITE 7). Although, several social media surveillance companies are stating that their softwares and applications have saved many students from self-half harm (CITE 7). High security surveillance comes with a cost. Expensive systems may cause the school to spend less money on other important resources required for learning (CITE 5). The topic of surveillance in schools is something that needs to be further evaluated and tested more extensively to see its outcomes. There needs to be more studies done on this subject to truly see if surveillance and excessive social media monitoring is worth the privacy concerns it raises.