By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas – A growing number of parents with disabled children in public schools are pushing to have cameras installed in classrooms due to an increase in complaints about abusive teachers.

Richmond, Texas mother Flor Nelson and another parent recently filed lawsuits against a former elementary teacher in the Fort Bend school district for the type of child abuse they believe could be avoided in the future if school officials installed cameras in self-contained classrooms, the Beaumont Enterprise reports.

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When Nelson’s daughter Emily, a 10-year-old autistic child who doesn’t speak, began behaving erratically and slapping herself, she knew something was wrong. Nelson later came to believe the child’s teacher trapped the girl in a filing cabinet and committed other abuses. Emily’s teacher – a 17-year educator – resigned in January after a state investigation, the news site reports.

Installing cameras in the classroom “would be my greatest joy over anything,” Nelson told the Beaumont Enterprise. “Nothing would make me feel safer about schools.”

She’s certainly not alone.

According to the news site, “Cases of alleged abuse have sprung up around the state in recent years, creating a burgeoning grass-roots movement with some special education advocates and parents calling for cameras in self-contained classrooms.”

We believe it’s an excellent idea that should be implemented in all public school classrooms in the nation. It would not only provide an obvious incentive for teachers to stop abusing students, but could also prove valuable in evaluating teacher effectiveness.

But changing the rules will require parents and school reformers to confront teachers unions that were smart enough to have language regarding video surveillance put into their labor contracts. In many collective bargaining agreements we’ve reviewed, school officials are prohibited from using video footage captured in the classroom for teacher evaluations or any personnel decisions. In some places, the contract prohibits recording entirely.

Teachers unions typically oppose any kind of increased accountability for their members and we don’t believe they’ll willingly change video policies without a fight. In the past, they’ve pointed to privacy concerns and claimed a camera in the classroom stifles creative teaching.

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Disability Rights Texas policy specialist Jeff Miller told the Beaumont Enterprise that whether to install cameras is a complex question that would require school officials to balance privacy issues with protecting students.

We disagree.

As the Enterprise points out, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled there is no expectation of privacy in public schools, and Texas law doesn’t require school officials to secure parental consent to videotape for safety purposes. State law allows for recording in common areas and buses, but leaves it up to school districts to determine if classrooms constitute common areas.

We believe every inch of public school buildings, with the exception of restrooms, should be considered common areas by the very nature of their public ownership. School employees, students, parents and anyone else who enter public buildings should be aware they’re not alone, and act appropriately.

That’s especially important in situations involving students who can’t speak up for themselves, or schools that cater to students with behavior problems.

The Enterprise reports that “Aldine Independent School District already has cameras in some classrooms, including the district’s alternative education placement and at its campus for severely disabled children.”

Houston schools have also placed cameras in some buses, hallways and other common areas.

But Houston Federation of Teachers President Gayle Fallon told the Enterprise that union officials likely will stand in the way of installing the recording devices in classrooms because they could create an uncomfortable teaching situation.

“People react differently then they know they are being filmed – a little less spontaneous, more cautious,” she told the Enterprise.

We would argue just the opposite. Teachers will always put their best foot forward when they are being evaluated by a principal sitting in the classroom. It’s not an honest snapshot of their everyday performance. If there were cameras, and teachers never knew whether they were recording or not, administrators would get a more honest peek at how teachers conduct themselves on an average day. And perhaps the uncertainty of being on film would make some teachers step up their efforts a bit.

Nelson and other parents of children abused by their teachers believe that sort of uncertainty could also be the right incentive for teachers to think twice before they impose undue discipline. The only people the union is protecting by opposing cameras are abusive or underperforming teachers.

The debate could soon be in the limelight, with a meeting scheduled between special needs advocates and Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, to push for legislation to put cameras in self-contained classrooms.

It’s a move that will put them squarely in opposition with Texas teachers unions, a powerful force in state politics, but it’s a showdown that’s long overdue.

“This is going to be a real debate,” Louis Geigerman, a special education advocate who has been involved with numerous cases of alleged abuse by teachers, told the Enterprise. “We are committed to get legislation that will protect these children.

“It’s high time we do it.”