Cameras Becoming More Common in Schools

Video surveillance cameras are becoming a common feature of student life - now even in middle and elementary schools - as local officials seek greater security for children and school property.

In district after district, the desire for additional security and the cost of replacing or maintaining property destroyed by vandalism have routinely overridden qualms about possible invasion of privacy.

In Lexington, the Clarke Middle School will be the latest to have a video security system installed next summer - becoming the third school in town to have one - but school officials have yet to draw up a written policy governing safeguards of civil liberties for those under camera surveillance.

"I would expect them to have a system in place to keep them private and for police use only," said Debora Hoard, copresident of the Parent Student Teacher Association at Lexington High School. "If there was an incident, then I would expect them to use them - but not the kind of daily monitoring that a Big Brother society would make me think of."

Lexington School Committee chairwoman Helen Lutton Cohen conceded there are no written rules in place that spell out who can see the surveillance tapes, how long they are kept, and what they are used for, to protect privacy.