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Hidden Camera Purchase Lands School Principal in Hot Seat
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 14, 2011
Modified Feb 14, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 14, 2011
Modified Feb 14, 2011
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Every school administrator knows that if you turn your back on these kids for one second you'll have a "Kick Me" sign plastered on your back and a thumbtack waiting on your chair. That's perhaps why the principal at the SEEALL Academy in Brooklyn may face an investigation for using school funds to purchase a $490 hidden camera pencil sharpener. An Education Department spokesperson tells the Daily News the special commissioner for investigation has been asked to look into the spying, but investigators won't have to dig too deep to figure out where the principal got the idea to buy the camera. The there was a link to it on the Education Department's website portal.
The city has since removed the link, because secret cameras may violate school rules that forbid taking photos of kids without parental permission. NYCLU director Donna Lieberman says, "When you have 5,000 police in the schools, why on earth do principals feel like they have to do their own crime solving?" Well, because what if the police are in on it? The NYCLU has for years been calling on the Education Department to reduce the number of cops in schools, and eliminate metal detectors.
The website that the department linked to had almost 50 undercover spy devices for sale, including a teddy bear with a built-in camera and neckties that double as "spy-ties." A principal at Martin Van Buren High School in Queens reportedly purchased a $200 hidden camera Exit Sign after the theft of laptops two years ago. That had at least one teacher infuriated: "It means to me that [the principal is] ... spying on ... what are we doing in the hallways and in the classrooms and in the teachers lounge." Well, if you're going through the trouble of installing spy cams in the school, you'd definitely want one trained on the teachers' lounge—that's where things get kinky!
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hiddin camera
schools
spy cam
spying
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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