Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/515703
P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y S C O T T B U S C H M A N T J O H N S T O N V I L L E E L E M E N T A R Y S C H O O L , Big Brother is always watching. Cameras are rolling all day, recording inside every classroom. Cameras are on the playground and in the lunchroom, the maintenance man's workroom and even in the staff lounge, recording staff on breaks. Cameras are everywhere but restrooms. The K-8, one-school district of 228 students is on the outskirts of Susanville in rural Lassen County, and looks like something out of "Lit- tle House on the Prairie." The biggest employer in town is the prison system. School board members, most of whom are associated with the correctional system, voted to have the cameras installed as a "safety precaution." But unhappy employees say a locked gate at the entrance is enough of a deterrent. The district maintains that the recordings are not used to spy on staff or evaluate them. Members of the Johnstonville School Teachers Asso- ciation tried to bargain the matter to no avail, and instead negotiated a provision in their contract that no footage from the cameras can be used to discipline or dismiss teachers. However, several employees say they have a sneaking suspicion they are watched on a regular basis. Some have heard comments about things that have happened inside classrooms that could only be known from watching the recordings. They suspect the firing of a classified employee was due to something viewed on video. Cameras were installed in 2013, without teacher input. Not all teach- ers are against them. Staff who want the cameras removed say they have nothing to hide, but don't want to star in a reality show for an audience of administrators looking for wrongdoing. Last year, one-third of the teaching staff (three out of nine) left the school voluntarily, says Russell. Four of the teachers on staff are cur- rently probationary, and naturally declined to express any views about the cameras. The law is on the side of those who oppose the cameras. Education Code 51512 states: "The Legislature finds that the use by any person, including a pupil, of any electronic listening or recording device in any classroom of the elementary and secondary schools without A Freda Russell backs against the wall near the door of her classroom, arms outstretched, palms touching the surface. She looks like someone perched on a ledge of a tall building contemplating a jump. She explains it's the only area of the room where the camera can't see her. She calls it the "dead space" and stands there often. Advocacy 35 V O L U M E 1 9 I S S U E 9