This letter came home with our kids yesterday. I am so pissed!
Dear Parents,
On or about March 28 of this year, Channel * secretly videotaped our students during recess here at BlahBlah Elementary School. Lei*sa Z. of Channel * did this without our consent and without our knowledge and without our permission. We believe the taping was done from a location off school grounds. Yesterday, April 20th, Superintendent Dr. Tim R, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jane R, and I met with Lei*sa Z to view a short segment of the tape. The video that we saw shows numerous specific children engaged in recess activities. Some of the activities appear to be appropriate and some appear to be inappropriate, such as hitting, kicking, pushing, chasing, restricting, and obscene gestures. This video may be part of future programming on Channel *.
We shared with Lei*sa Z. our concern about the rights of our children to privacy and the trust you share with us to protect their rights. Because we believe the children will be identifiable, it is grossly inappropriate for us to comment to anyone about this tape about the children, except with the children�s parents. After viewing the video segment of our students, we refused to make any comment to Channel * about the video because we believe it would violate the privacy of our children. We did volunteer to talk with Ms. Z., on tape, about the full scope of the district programs that we use to proactively deal with student behavior. She declined our offer.
As we have demonstrated so often, we as a school community, and as a district, work cooperatively to ensure a safe, secure, nurturing environment. This includes a proactive curriculum that teaches students avenues of good behavior and how to handle episodes of misbehavior, including bullying. As you also know we have adequate district and building policies and procedures designed to protect all students and to handle misbehavior that includes harassment and violence. Students and parents are continually encouraged to join these efforts to keep our school environments positive by reporting information of behavior in violation of our policies.
In no way do we condone, or hide, inappropriate behavior or bullying in our district. However, we will take great pains to ensure the safety, security and confidentiality of all our students and staff.
Because we feel the secret videotaping of students without parent or district permission is inappropriate and breaks the trust between parents and the school, we encourage you to call Channel * at 555-5555 and voice your concerns to General Manager Mrs. Lynn B or News Director Mr. Mike S.
Thank you,
The principal
*************************************************************
How dare anyone secretly tape our children? From what it says, the tape shows faces too! I can think of a multitude of reasons our children should not be videotaped and broadcasted over 15 counties!
And, our school has the BEST anti-violence and anti-bullying policies that I have come across in my 30 years. They have no tolerance for any of it. I know this because I�m somewhat involved in my daughter�s school life and regularly speak with her teachers and the principle.
This is an awesome, accelerated school.
What makes me mad is that this is a very safe, good school compared to some of the hellholes in the city where Jr.
Gang-Members are sent to school. Teachers are tired, overworked, underpaid, and the kids are totally out of control. Kids go to school with guns. Every day there�s a report on the city school�s about kids and guns and huge fights and arrests and.. well, do I need to go on?
Be outraged that the inner city schools don�t have air conditioning and that you regularly see kids getting food poisoning. Be mad that we can continuously build new sports complexes but kids in the city are forced to learn, if they learn much at all, with outdated textbooks. Technology isn�t even a factor because it can�t be afforded.
Be angry that many kids graduate high school with a minimal grasp of reading and writing and math.
Be outraged that kids can�t learn because they are coming to school hungry and be outraged that these kids have no self worth because their home is in a terrible neighborhood with daily drive-by�s, stabbings and homicide. Be mad that to many kids in the city life is about crack, alcohol, fights, and a lot of these kids move a lot because their parents can�t pay rent. Be mad that some kids won�t go to the bathroom during the school day because they are afraid they will get jumped. Be outraged that to get a good education that some of these kids are regularly bussed out to suburban schools 45 minutes away.
Be outraged about the extremely high drop-out rate in urban areas. Be outraged that some of these kids never had a chance from the very start.
Be mad about that.
I have one suggestion where they can stick that videotape.
Our kids are pretty lucky. Many of them have a crappy home life but school is a safe, warm, place to be. And because of the
no-tolerance policy, they can learn in a relaxed, comfortable environment.
I�m not saying that this doesn�t happen in our school. However, we have enough resources that if something happens we can squash it pretty quick. At recess, I know it�s pretty tough to keep tabs on all the kids. Maybe they could use a few more recess aids.
I�m hoping that if anything good comes out of it is that the school has even less of a tolerance for bullying. It would be great if Jackie didn�t come home once a month and tell me about a kid who was getting picked on. I�m pretty proud of her though, she will stand by a friend, even if it doesn�t make her popular.
I�m just pretty furious about the whole thing. They are lucky they weren�t arrested for doing the videotaping. For all we know they could be using the stills of little girls hanging upside down on the monkey bars for their pervert tapes. Who knows?
9:59 am - April 22, 2005
Recent entries:
What you missed - January 16, 2012
%%older_entries%%From hell - October 19, 2010
%%older_entries%%a rant from a few weeks ago - August 17, 2010
%%older_entries%%Tired - June 20, 2010
%%older_entries%%A beautiful lie - March 11, 2010
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