Spy Cams: Friend or Foe

School Surveillance Systems Can Sometimes Be Blind to the Truth

By Dave Arnold

“Smile, you’re on Candid Camera.” These famous words were first uttered by Candid Camera host Allen Funt during one of TV’s most popular programs in the 1960s.

Every week, my family and I were glued to our black-n-white TV set watching people caught by hidden cameras in embarrassing situations. At schools today, it seems like we are all on Candid Camera every day if not every minute.

When students have vandalized the bus or become violent, their entire drama is caught on film. This is a good thing. Insurance companies like this so much, they now require either cameras or security alarm systems be installed at all schools.

Friend or Foe

For some Education Support Professionals (ESP), a surveillance camera can be a friend or foe. Whether it is in the school building, playground, or on bus, you can rest assured that Big Brother is watching. This may not be a good thing.

For example, at a non-union school a custodian who I know had a disagreement with his superintendent. It was about the quality of the custodian’s work and the amount of work that could be performed in an eight-hour shift.

In what was believed to be an act of retaliation by the super, the custodian was transferred to the school’s third and least-desirable shift. At the same time, an employee with less seniority took his place on the day shift.

To add insult to injury, a few months after the custodian was transferred to the night shift, he was arrested for theft. Apparently, some money was missing from the school vault. The superintendent produced videotape that showed the custodian entering and exiting the walk-in vault.

Since cleaning in the vault wasn’t required of the custodian, it was presumed that the only reason he was there was to steal. The video didn’t show him removing anything. It only showed him entering and exiting.

The judge found the custodian guilty without considering the possibility that the superintendent could have stopped the camera and removed the money himself after learning that the custodian was cleaning in the vault.

Visual Proof

The superintendent forgot to mention to the judge that he used to keep the safe locked until he decided to assign the veteran custodian to the night shift. Was the custodian framed?

Cameras are intended to improve the safety and security of the school. ESP should beware, however, for these robotic demons can turn on you.   If a video can be used against a questionable employee, then you can safely bet that it will be used as such.
By the same token, videos have caught the heroic actions of school employees during tragedies such as the shootings at Little Rock and Columbine.

Cameras also record the daily activity of ESP that prove they are above average human beings. I have always said that on a typical school day, ESP will prove that there is no such thing as a typical ESP.

ESP who I know are unique and extraordinary individuals. They are moms, dads, unofficial counselors, volunteer public relations representatives, and humanitarians all rolled into one. If they ever appear on Candid Camera, this is what the camera would capture.

(Dave Arnold, a member of the Illinois Education Association, is head custodian at Brownstown Elementary School in Southern Illinois.)

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NEA or its affiliates.