South Fayette charges student with wiretapping when he recorded bullies with iPad (Pittsburgh: lawyers, high school)

[Velvet Jones]

Anyone who has had a child in the South Fayette SD will not be surprised by this one bit. If stupidity was a crime nearly ever member of that school board and administration would be serving life sentences.

[UKyank]

I'm by no means a big brother fan but having cameras in classrooms might be an idea. Having an 'eye in the sky' might keep some kids in line.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by ryanm3685

A friend told me a story a few years ago of a student who caught so much hell that the only choice was to transfer to another school. That's wrong! The bad actors are the ones who should have left the school. South Fayette and other school districts should be letting all the students and parents know: if you want the privilege of all the school has to offer, you need to respect the right of others to do the same.

In this case, the administration doesn't even view it as bullying. Even when there are good principals, they sometimes don't have control over the teachers. Some of them are bullies themselves. I know of many occasions that principals instructed teachers to stop doing something or to do something differently and the teachers outright refused to the detriment of students. In one instance, a principal was fired because he had no control over the staff. It's mindboggling how education can be such a clusterfk in so many ways.

[TBonzie]

So you can't fight back physically if you're bullied, nor can you videotape the evidence.

No wonder kids snap.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by UKyank

I'm by no means a big brother fan but having cameras in classrooms might be an idea. Having an 'eye in the sky' might keep some kids in line.

I'm not a big brother fan either, but cameras helps curb behavior on buses. The main problem will be bathrooms. I guess there could be cameras in bathrooms as long as they're not pointing at stalls. It's time to put urinals into individual stalls so there can be cameras in bathrooms.

[Hopes]

One thing is for sure, Pittsburgh is making some serious national news regarding bullying this week.

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Read the comments section of the Trib article.

From one of the comments on this article:

This is disturbing enough on its face, but just as disturbing for me is the fact
that it existed on several media websites for almost a week, eventually winding
up on the Drudge Report, before a Pittsburgh "mainstream media" outlet put
something out there. At least two local talk show hosts had links to this posted
on their social media pages, especially after Franklin Regional, and did not
respond. It might also be fairly stated that this story might have continued to
be conveniently ignored had the incident at Franklin Regional not occurred.

The Post-Gazette, WTAE and KDKA still have not covered this.

Originally Posted by UKyank

I'm by no means a big brother fan but having cameras in classrooms might be an idea. Having an 'eye in the sky' might keep some kids in line.

Most schools have recently installed security cameras in their hallways. I think most teachers would be in favor of security cameras in the classrooms.

[ryanm3685]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I'm not a big brother fan either, but cameras helps curb behavior on buses. The main problem will be bathrooms. I guess there could be cameras in bathrooms as long as they're not pointing at stalls. It's time to put urinals into individual stalls so there can be cameras in bathrooms.

Some school districts require a guard to escort a student to a bathroom and/or the bathrooms are locked and a key needs to be signed out to get in. I'm reluctant to embrace the former, but the latter might establish some evidence as to who is in a bathroom or not when an incident goes down.

Regarding the attention Pittsburgh's been getting lately, I have a feeling that these two districts loathe the way they are getting attention. I'd rather my schools be known for outstanding programs than for bad behavior.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by villageidiot1

The Post-Gazette, WTAE and KDKA still have not covered this.

That's pathetic. The Washington Post picked it up. I'll bet it will be international before the week ends.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by ryanm3685

Some school districts require a guard to escort a student to a bathroom and/or the bathrooms are locked and a key needs to be signed out to get in. I'm reluctant to embrace the former, but the latter might establish some evidence as to who is in a bathroom or not when an incident goes down.

Don't make the bathrooms more restrictive. It's already bad enough that some teachers won't let children go when they need to. I can't imagine how a guard can efficiently escort students in buildings with a thousand students. Some of the guards are awful. If you don't want cameras inside the bathrooms and you want documentation of who is in the bathroom, a camera can be installed in the hallway facing the bathroom door.