One question I’ve received numerous times is, “Do you recommend having video cameras in our classrooms?” Here’s what I’ve told folks who asked:
First, there are legitimate pros and cons for having cameras and not having cameras, so there’s no clear single right answer. However, I personally recommend not installing video cameras inside classrooms. (I do recommend security cameras outside and facing entrances/exits.) Why do I not recommend cameras in classrooms?
At Aspen Leaf, we have never wanted to have cameras in the classrooms primarily because:
- We’re confident in who we hire, and
- We want our teachers to feel trusted and not feel ‘watched’
Some administrators have told me that they have cameras because they think it helps parents trust the school enough to enroll. That might be true for some families, but my opinion is that if you’ve hired well, have set up the classrooms nicely, and have a good program in place, parents can tell when they take a tour. A bad program with good cameras still looks like a bad program.
The main reason for having cameras is that having footage can help avoid liability because the recordings would be proof that whatever is alleged did not happen. Recently, however, I actually saw this rationale backfire.
A center provided footage to Licensing that it thought showed nothing wrong happening (which I agreed with), but Licensing issued a Type A citation anyway. The LPA said the teacher on camera moved a child’s arm “too quickly” when she stopped him from spilling a cup of milk (an opinion I thought and still think is ridiculous). So centers simply cannot trust Licensing to exercise reasonable judgment when it looks at footage.
So on the whole, my recommendation is not to install video cameras inside the classroom, because:The cameras negatively affect teacher morale, andLicensing will likely use the footage to cite a center more often than it uses it to exonerate.
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