Camera in School Bathroom
“A Jasper County mother says her 8th grade son found a video camera taping in the school bathroom this week. But now, he is the one in trouble. Cindy Champion says her son, Mac Bedor, and a few of his friends took the camera out of the ceiling because they felt it violated their privacy. Champion says her son brought the camera home to show her that afternoon. She says when she contacted the Jasper County Comprehensive School, she found out high school principal, Howard Fore, put the camera there. She says Fore told her he put the camera in the boys’ bathroom to catch students vandalizing. Champion says her son is now suspended for taking school property.” — WMAZ.com (US)
This case has the potential to be a blockbuster. On one hand, law authorities have been stepping up their efforts against video voyeurism, hidden cameras, and so forth — particularly when the target of those cameras is schoolchildren. On the other hand, the principal of this school seems to have had a legitimate reason for installing the camera. There has been some question whether, in spite of his efforts to prevent vandalism, the principal even has a legal right to film inside a bathroom, but apparently he does. “Schools have more leeway on privacy issues,” the article notes. Probably the school could assign a proctor to the bathroom, so apparently the camera merely serves as a sort of “virtual” proctor.
That being said, there’s a camera in a bathroom. It’s aimed at children. Who’s to say the principal doesn’t get off on it? If law enforcement finds one instance of this guy downloading gay porn, then he’s done for. Or to look at it the other way, if this case sets a precedent — if, in other words, the principal is allowed to utilize vandalism as a rationale for putting surveillance cameras in bathrooms — then expect other pervy educators to point to this case as a justification for their voyeuristic urges. “We pointed the urinal cams directly at our students’ midsections because they were urinating all over the place… We were interested in vandalism, not genitalia!”
You’d think that there must be better ways to fight vandalism. Here in New York, the subways used to be a wreck until the Metropolitan Transit Authority remade them with this super-duper metal stuff that apparently you can’t spray-paint on. Why don’t they make bathrooms out of that? Or maybe if those boys are so hell-bent on vandalizing the joint, the school administrators should just prevent them from going to the bathroom. After those boys have a few embarrassing “accidents” as a result of overwrought bladders, maybe they’ll appreciate and respect their restrooms.
None of you completely understand the story. Part of the problem is that you are close-minded, and another reason is that you didn’t ATTEND the high school. I graduated from Jasper County High last year, and I tell you, the principal, Mr. Fore, is not a pedophile, homosexual, or a Catholic priest. Mr. Fore is a friend to the student body, and only is concerned about the safety of his school. The camera was placed in the bathroom to catch vandalizing middle/high schoolers, not to peek in on little boys taking a whiz. The comments here on this forum are so horrendously stupid they make me laugh.
Yes, the boy is getting in trouble for taking the camera, but that’s because it was school property. Do any of you realize what people even DO in school bathrooms? I’ve had friends tell me they’ve had sex in the bathrooms, people smoke pot in the bathrooms, and I don’t even want to know what else.
The District Attorney has already stated that the school had every right to place the camera in the restroom.
And another thing, if the school KNEW that the camera had been placed there, the students would stop vandalizing! So if he told the school, then he wouldn’t get the result he was looking for: to catch the vandals in the act. Does that not make sense?
Make sure you have the full story before you run about calling a wonderful principal and person a pedophile. It only makes yourselves look like idiots, because you don’t even know the person or anyone from the school system itself.
Dearest Julie FoxLindi
You are absolutely right, principal Howard Fore is not a pedophile, he’s an asshole, and I’m not so sure about you. Why are you sucking up to him?
yes I know what students DO in school bathrooms. principal Fore should know too. He should know that boys will steal a movie camera if they find one in the bathroom, I know I would (especially if it was pointed at my dick). Now the principal is whining about it. Too bad asshole, you were invading their privacy.
Since you’ve had friends tell you they’ve had sex in the bathrooms, and friends smoking pot in the bathrooms, what were you doing at the time? Keeping a lookout for teachers?
You said we should get the full story, well Ms Julie, why don’t you tell us the full story about why the principal feels he must have a camera in the little boys bathroom, zoomed in on their genitalia area.
By the way, how would you like a camera installed in the bottom of your toilet, pointed at your wazoo every time you took a squat?
i cannot think of any good justification for putting up cameras in a school’s toilets. It’s a clear invasion of privacy and is incredibly disconcerting for anyone just trying to urinate. Vandalism problems? a million different solutions, a sign-in register, or cameras set up OUTSIDE the toilets with regular checks to ascertain who the culprit is, or just banning the toilets until the problem stops etc etc. Setting cameras up inside a kids toilet is a stupid idea and is totally unnecessary.
If the principal wanted so desperately to stop vandalism, he should’ve put up a clearly visable camera and protect it in such a way that it could not be taken. People would protest, but they wouldn’t question its source. If you hide a camera, it is logical to assume it has been placed there by someone who wishes to see something without the person knowing. If I would have been in the kid’s position, if I found a hidden camera in the bathroom, I would immediatly take it. The question remains though why the kid didn’t just hand in the camera at school, complaining directly to the school, though I must admit that I would have done the same at that age, confused about what has just happened. Basically it all comes down to where the principal placed the camera. If it was hidden then I agree with the boys, but the article seems to say that it was placed in the ceiling, so it probably was in clear view. I can’t agree with the principal for his actions, but if the camara was placed unhidden, then the boy was wrong too.
“….And another thing, if the school KNEW that the camera had been placed there, the students would stop vandalizing! So if he told the school, then he wouldn’t get the result he was looking for: to catch the vandals in the act. Does that not make sense?”
Yes, that does not make sense. I thought the idea was to prevent crime. Punishing crime just makes criminals. Heck he could probably prevent a large portion of the vandalism just by rumor of there being cameras. I say Perv~to Fore~
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