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In this essay, Bryan R. Warnick responds to the increasing use of surveillance cameras in public schools by examining the ethical questions raised by their use. He explores the extent of a student's right to privacy in schools, stipulates how video surveillance is similar to and different from commonly accepted in-person surveillance practices, and discusses the possible impact of surveillance technology on educational environments. In response to the ethical concerns he raises, Warnick offers five suggestions for how schools can use video surveillance technology in more ethically sensitive ways.
Electronic surveillance technology is a growing presence in public schools. High-profile school shootings in the late 1990s, such as the Columbine shootings in Colorado, hastened a trend that had already begun. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that in the 2003-2004 school year, 60 percent of U.S. high schools used surveillance cameras (Dinkes, Cataldi, Kena, & Baum, 2006). According to another study of school district safety personnel in 2001, 90 percent of sampled school districts were using video cameras and 87 percent were using video recording systems (Garcia, 2003).1 The same study also reported that 40 percent of the school districts had spent over $500,000 on the new surveillance technology. Journalists report that spending on security technologies in some districts is surging into the multimillion-dollar range (see, for example, a report from Florida districts in Tobin, 2005). The use of electronic surveillance cameras is now a reality in most schools across the United States, even with the substantial expense associated with them. The recent shootings at Virginia Tech University may further intensify this trend and expand the use of security technologies in higher education environments.
The ethical aspects of using video cameras in schools, however, have not been sufficiently examined. In lieu of an ethical discussion, on the U.S. Department of Justice website one can find specific discussions of the legality of surveillance cameras in schools, including bits of legal advice relating to camera placement (Green, Travis, & Downs, 1999). Elsewhere, one can find a body of literature that deals broadly with the general topic of ethics and surveillance technology in society. Perhaps the most helpful examples of this literature are the work of Marx (1998) and Lyon (1994). This literature is helpful,...