Will, a Bronx Science graduate who requested his last name be withheld, said his generation grew up with a very limited sense of personal privacy. "I can't think of a public place that doesn't have cameras – we grew up in a city full of them," he said. At Bronx Science, video cameras were only one aspect of DOE's limitations on student privacy. In 2006, Bronx Science began issuing its own locks for student lockers, which could be opened by a master key, rather than allowing combination locks brought from home. "We didn't have that much privacy to begin with at school," Will said.
Although NYC students are some of the most vocal protesters against a police atmosphere, one national school security consultant agrees with Will that they may view privacy issues in particular differently than adults.
"Adults tend to get hung up a lot more on Big Brother-type questions much more than today's kids," says Ken Trump, president of the Cleveland-based National School Safety and Security Services. "Security equipment is part of the broader society they've grown up in."
Despite the heavy criticism it received at the October school safety hearing, DOE maintains it is pleased with the current school safety program, including cameras. "School crime is down, and we're continuing to push that back," said Elayna Konstan, director of DOE's Office of School and Youth Development, which oversees the camera and school safety programs. Regarding video cameras, Konstan says they are popular among principals and staff, and an important tool for DOE and NYPD's "team approach" toward school safety.
DOE data seems to demonstrate that zero-tolerance policies disrupt the educational experience. Between 2000 and 2005, suspensions spiked by 76 percent, from 8,567 to 15,090, according to DOE statistics. Special education students are suspended at a rate that's twice their proportion of the student population. In 2005, students with disabilities made up 10 percent of the student population, but accounted for nearly 22 percent of all suspensions, according to DOE statistics (3,295 special education students suspended out of 15,090 total suspensions).
As for IPDVS, legislators like Jackson and Liu support a camera presence in New York's most violent schools, despite their reservations about the current safety program. Both cited parental concern as a major factor (and both Councilmen have children in the public schools), while Liu viewed the spread of cameras as "inevitable."
"I personally am in favor of those cameras as long as NYPD employees are patrolling the schools. When they're out, the cameras should be out," said Susan Woodward of the Legal Aid Society. "For years we've heard stories of safety agents being physically aggressive with students. Now we're starting to see some of it on camera."
