Sudent Union

[Fluff and Stuff]

The student union is being formed primarily to address an overly strict attendence policy. Most people feel that they should be able to miss as much class as they want, as long as they can still pass a class. Many of us would like to be able to smoke on school grounds. The vending machines are turned of at lunch, which is bullshit. The dress code does not please us. Most of us feel that the law should be the only limit on dress at a public school. There is also a camera system at KHS, which many of us want to eliminate.

Good luck with things.  It sounds like things are pretty bad there.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Cameras, huh?  What if a bunch of you wore disguises for a few weeks changing them several times a day, showing them how useless their cameras are?

[Kat Kanning]

    

Camera in School Bathroom

WMAZ | December 1, 2005

COMMENT:
Placing cameras in public restrooms is a complete and total violation of the Fourth Amendment and for the District Attorney to say that its legal because its at a school is horriffic. The government is claiming that we have no rights and if we don't step up, like Mac did, and show them we do know our rights, then we are on a slippery slope indeed.

They are blatantly setting the precident to put cameras in even in bathrooms. The instant we start accepting this level of privacy invasion we will be opening ourselves to the destruction of privacy altogether. A few years ago in Tennessee, they were caught placing cameras in showers.

If cameras in school restrooms are found to be "legal," its only a matter of time before cameras infiltrate every space we inhabit including our homes. Only prisoners are under 24 hour surveillance.

This 8th grader, Mac Bedor, and his friends are heroes for standing up to the ever-encroaching reach of Big Brother.

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Camera in School Bathroom

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A Jasper County mother says her 8th grade son found a video camera taping in the school bathroom this week. But now, he is the one in trouble.

Cindy Champion says her son, Mac Bedor, and a few of his friends took the camera out of the ceiling because they felt it violated their privacy. Champion says her son brought the camera home to show her that afternoon. She says when she contacted the Jasper County Comprehensive School, she found out high school principal, Howard Fore, put the camera there. She says Fore told her he put the camera in the boys' bathroom to catch students vandalizing. Champion says her son is now suspended for taking school property.

CINDY CHAMPION, MOTHER:
"I had told the high school principal, Mr. Fore, that he needed to come up with another solution. That this wasn't appropriate. His response to me was he was going to continue to film."

Jasper County Superintendent, Jay Brinson, sent a faxed response to Eyewitness News. Brinson says high school principal, Howard Fore, placed the camera in the bathroom last Sunday to control vandalism. He says Fore put the camera there "to discover the identity of those doing the damage." Brinson says the principal did tell Cindy Champion that the camera would be installed again. But in his statement Brinson says, "The camera was not placed back in the restroom, and will not be placed back in the restroom."

Eyewitness News tried to contact the Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney about the legality of placing hidden cameras in public school rest rooms. He covers that area. Eyewitness News was not able to get in touch with him. But, Eyewitness News did talk with Bibb County District Attorney, Howard Simms. He says cameras in public school bathrooms are legal because schools have more leeway on privacy issues.

[Russell Kanning]

Politics will lay no part in the student union.

We may organize strikes, class room wlak outs, sports non participation, and not paying our lunch accounts.

That is funny.

I love it.     "Glory glory halleluia, teacher hit me with a ruler ........"

[Russell Kanning]

Camera in School Bathroom

Time to leave school.

[Kat Kanning]

School buses may wait for cameras
   

Anna Haigh
Sentinel Staff


RINDGE ? It could be the middle of winter, or even spring, before students on Jaffrey-Rindge School District buses are watched by surveillance cameras.

School board member Daniel J. Whitney said it may take that long before the cameras are up and running, because the school board has yet to create a policy for how the cameras can be used.

The school board approved the installation of surveillance cameras on Laidlaw Education Service buses on Oct. 4.

The holdup is due to a related project the school board is working on to update the district?s busing policy, and surveillance cameras are a part of that comprehensive plan. The school board is also looking at traffic-flow patterns for district bus routes.


      


The policies may not be voted on until January, and Whitney said the cameras could be installed at either the district?s February or April weeklong vacation breaks.

District Superintendent James L. O?Neill recommended the district adopt surveillance cameras on all of its buses at the school board meeting on Sept. 13.

He said the cameras would cut down the time district administrators spend investigating problems on buses.

Area bus drivers would be in charge of recording a new tape every day of the school week. according to Sara O?Dougherty, Laidlaw?s Peterborough branch manager.

Laidlaw will provide the cameras and video tapes for free, and tapes recorded daily will be the property of the district. After a week, the tapes will be erased. O?Dougherty said drivers will be encouraged to check the tapes regularly to see what they may be missing while they?re focused on the road.

The school board also discussed schedule changes for Conant High School at Monday?s meeting.

Conant Principal Lawrence A. Murphy said the school has been looking at adding longer class periods to the school year, and one alternative schedule has now been tried three times. ?There?s good and there?s bad,? he said.

Murphy said teachers and students are becoming more enthusiastic about 90-minute periods ? currently, the school has seven periods that are about 50 minutes long.

He said the longer periods enhance opportunities for teachers and students to engage in creative classroom experiences.

But there are still some problems to work out, Murphy said, including teacher complaints about losing preparation time and figuring out how frequently the longer periods should be used.

This year, as an experiment, the school has designated six days using the longer-period schedule. ?We have to find a model that works,? Murphy said.

The school is looking at a few different scheduling models that include longer periods.

School board member Stephen C. Meyers said the school should set a plan by next year, so the constantly changing schedule isn?t a source of confusion.

District Superintendent James L. O?Neill agreed.

?We can?t keep jumping around,? he said. ?I think next year we have to land someplace.?

[Lloyd Danforth]

How about on a Bear Trap

[Russell Kanning]

And this is in tiny Rindge.

[Dave Ridley]

. Find me a union that runs according to ZAP, and I might like it.

Well this student union could do pretty much anything to the administration and be in compliance with the ZAP since the school initiated force against the people of keene who didn't want to pay for it.

[Eli]

and to the students forced to be there.