Virtual Intrusion

[XLFD]

An interesting story out of Baltimore touched on too many themes that could apply to anybody in Michigan with kids doing on-line education because of the school shutdown.  It raises a few debatable questions on privacy, parental notification, police involvement, and the applicability of school rules to virtual on-line learning.  

Courtney Lancaster (pictured above), is a US Navy veteran with four years of active duty behind her, and she has plenty of experience with guns.  Her 11 year old son in his goal to become an Eagle Scout has learned how to shoot BB guns. He’s also taken three levels of archery lessons.  Those are his assorted weapons hanging on the wall in the picture.  It is not uncommon for an 11 year old boy to have BB guns, nor is it uncommon to have bows and arrows, as several schools teach classes in archery.

Seneca Elementary School is likely one of those that don't, because on June 1st, Courtney received a visit from the local police.  The police officer politely informed her that they were there to address a school issue regarding somebody seeing weapons in her son's bedroom, and that they were there to search for weapons.  After she consented, the police entered her son's bedroom to view the arms.  She was a bit upset that this was happening and that her son was frightened of the intrusion.  After about 20 minutes the police left without seeing any dangers or laws broken.

Courtney felt violated by the school's response and wanted answers.  In E-mails to the school superintendent, principal and the school board she found out that two teachers had noticed the BB guns in the background, and told the principal.  The principal consulted the school resource officer who advised police action (naturally).  So rather than contact the child's mother for the non-emergent situation, they scheduled an invasive home visit.

The principal initially compared having a weapon in the background of an in-home virtual class to be along the same line as bringing a gun to school.

Even though the screenshots taken of her son with weapons in the background were shared with law enforcement in a closed investigation, Courtney has not been able to receive those screenshots from either public body.  She noted:  “It's absolutely scary to think about.  Who are on these calls? Who do we have viewing your children and subsequently taking these screenshots that can be sent anywhere or used for any purpose?”

“There's no more trust. There have just been a series of lies and just no cooperation.  So, what are the parameters? Where are the lines drawn? If my son is sitting at the kitchen island next to a butcher block, does that constitute a weapon? It's not allowed at school, right? So, would my home then be searched because he's sitting next to a butcher block.  I feel like parents need to be made aware of what the implications are, what the expectations are.”

In their defense, Baltimore County Schools offered this nugget of nothing:  “Our longstanding policy is to not debate individual circumstances through the media. There are multiple ways for families to share concerns with us. In general terms, the safety of students and staff is our chief concern, whether we are meeting in classrooms or via continuity of learning.” 

Courtney Lancaster brought up several themes that are worthy of being answered by the local school and police. 

Her son's privacy rights were compromised by at least two teachers and multiple other officials by them taking pictures of his bedroom during virtual meets.  She properly wonders who else may be viewing pictures of her home.

Her rights as a parent and protections against unwarranted searches were bypassed when the school resource officer decided on a home visit by his buddies rather than just calling her and finding out whether there was an issue.  Police officers should not be calling the shots on a school matter.

Her rights to see the screenshots of the evidence used to qualify the search of her home for weapons is being violated.  The school should already have a policy in place against collecting such records that can be used for nefarious or prurient interests by who-knows-who.  

Idiotic school administrators probably haven't learned anything from this incident, but all parents should learn that when your children are taking virtual classes, you can't expect the school to respect the privacy of your child and others in the household when the webcam is picking up a lot of information that can be recorded and used against anyone, even if the full story is not being transmitted.  As in this case.

[Willy]

Good find X. I would guess that more than screen shots are being recorded. This is a perfect scenario for intruding into the American family life. Spying thru the computer or phone camera or thru the microphone is easily accomplished. I would not trust any of these leftists controlled school districts.