Lower Merion School District--4th Settlement on SpyCam Cases.

[msanthrope]

Just an update--Lower Merion SD has been settling these as quietly as possible...they've not only had to pay for this case (1.5 in attorney's fees) but have another fee-intensive case: LMSD redistricted 9 Black students to Harriton High. They found a federal judge who stated that yes, the school district took race into account, but it wasn't illegal to do so.

That racial-bias case is currently under appeal.

In the meantime--

"Another webcam claim settled in Lower Merion

SNIP
The settlements include $175,000 paid to Blake Robbins, a Harriton High School student who exposed the practice in a lawsuit that drew worldwide attention. Two other students received $10,000 last year to settle claims.

The district has since implemented policies banning any tracking of laptops without the knowledge and permission of students and their parents.

SNIP--more at link
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/128247973.html

The district is also asking for dismissal of this webcam case--where nearly 4,000 shots of a kid and his family were taken-

"The complaint states that Levin’s parents and Levin received a June 8, 2010 letter from the school district’s counsel, Henry E. Hockeimer, that said an investigation revealed 4,404 webcam photographs and 3,978 screenshots, taken between September 22, 2008 to March 12, 2009, were recovered from Levin’s laptop."

http://balacynwyd.patch.com/articles/ex-harriton-student-hits-school-district-with-latest-laptop-camera-lawsuit

And so it goes.

[johnd83]

1. It scares me how we treat our kids in school

They don't have any of the freedoms that we adults have. At least in my school the adults were constantly on a power-trip over the students. I have been out of school a long time but it still worries me that we treat students so poorly and then expect them to be able to function as free citizens.

[msanthrope]

2. This was dehumanizing.

I hope that the adults at LMSD learn their lesson.

[gratuitous]

3. And I hope they don't learn certain lessons

Like being more careful next time to avoid getting caught. Hopefully they will draw a better conclusion and treat their students as students rather than as criminal suspects. Leave that shit to the cops.

[johnd83]

4. We have a culture of treating students like criminals

in all of our schools. Instead of trying to develop free thinking leaders and inventors we are creating a bunch of people afraid to think for themselves. Any sense of free-thinking was squashed in my school. I graduated in 2002, I am probably a bit younger than most of the DU members. From what I can tell things have gotten worse since I graduated.