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Lunch lines to get video cameras
Last week the Fairfax County School Board voted to add security cameras to the lunch lines of six county high schools.
The previous county policy that allowed for only the outside of schools and the interiors of school buses to be monitored by video was amended.
The one-year program will begin this fall. At the end of the school year in 2009, staff will provide the board with a report of the pilot program's results.
The schools included in the pilot are the worst offenders for lunch line thefts: Annandale, Mount Vernon and Westfield high schools and Lake Braddock, Robinson, and South County secondary schools. They will be monitored to combat an estimated $1.2 million of stolen food in lunch lines across the county last year.
Only two school board members, including Stu Gibson (Hunter Mill), voted against the measure.
"I am concerned that when we surveil the vast majority of students who are not thieves, we teach them that it's okay for the government to watch them at all times, whether they're in a place where they expect privacy or not," Gibson said.
Likening a school cafeteria to a grocery store, representative Tina Hone (At-Large) said, "Students have limited privacy rights in schools. That's why we're able to open their lockers in search for drugs and other things."
Torn in his decision, board member Brad Center (Lee) said "I draw a distinction between children and adults. ... We have a responsibility to ensure they [children] follow the rules."
Springfield board member Liz Bradsher supported the program not because food in lunch lines is being stolen, but because her teenage daughter was a victim of theft and harassment at her school last year.
The school board needs to tread carefully, said Jane Strauss (Dranesville), but "I will support this because it has a limited focus. ... Clearly we cannot stand by and allow more than a million dollars worth of items to be stolen."
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