The Fairfax County school board is expected to vote to allow principals to install surveillance cameras in high school cafeterias and other high-traffic areas of campus. Five School Board members told The Washington Examiner they would vote “yes” Thursday night, while two said concerns about public engagement will compel them to vote against the cameras.
Of the five remaining members on the 12-person board, three previously expressed support for the policy change, which would allow — but not require — principals to make in-school cameras a reality.
“Our schools are so large, we have lunchrooms that might have 900 or 600 kids at a time — it’s a lot to ask our teachers to be ever-watchful of our students,” said Elizabeth Bradsher, who represents the Springfield District.
Food fights at two high schools in Bradsher’s district last spring prompted the county’s High School Principals Association to petition the board to allow interior surveillance, which all other large area school districts allow.
Principals were frustrated when they couldn’t identify the students who started the dangerous food fights; at Robert E. Lee High School, a pregnant student was knocked to the ground.
“She could have been seriously injured. She could have lost the baby,” said James Raney, an at-large board member who plans to vote for the cameras. “It sounds to me like something we need to deter, this food fighting and bullying.”
The cameras would not be monitored constantly, but reviewed upon an incident. School officials estimate the maximum cost to be $885,000. Schools’ proffers could cover more than $120,000, and the remaining cost would be defrayed by some schools forgoing cameras.
At meetings convened by their principals, 80 percent of high school PTAs said they supported the cameras.
But these parent forums concerned School Board member Dan Storck, who represents the Mount Vernon district. Because principals proposed the cameras, Storck says they failed to fully explain the pros and cons to parents. He plans to move to postpone the vote, which at-large School Board member Tina Hone says she will support.
Brad Center, the Lee District representative, said he originally favored postponing the vote for another reason: It’s his last board meeting. Half the board members will end their terms on Dec. 31, and a new board will be left with their decision.
“But the new board can look at this again,” Center said. “Just because it’s decided on Dec. 15, 2011, doesn’t mean in two months or a year it can’t come back.”
