Pupil Discovers Camera In School Bathroom (and Gets Suspended for It!)

WMAZ ^ | 11/30/2005 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

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.

[Semper Paratus]

Sandy Berger will not be visiting that restroom.

[rwfromkansas]

That would have been my assumption.

We did not have cameras in my high school, but we had a sane principal, and he would not have put them in the bathrooms.

[geopyg]

LOL!

[ozoneliar]

According to 18 U.S.C. § 2251 child pornography is only sexually explicit conduct. But Such conduct is defined by 18 USCS § 2256 as :sexually explicit conduct" means actual or simulated-- (i) sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex; (ii) bestiality; (iii) masturbation; (iv) sadistic or masochistic abuse; or (v) lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person;

(B) For purposes of subsection 8(B) of this section, "sexually explicit conduct" means-- (i) graphic sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex, or lascivious simulated sexual intercourse where the genitals, breast, or pubic area of any person is exhibited; (ii) graphic or lascivious simulated; (I) bestiality; (II) masturbation; or (III) sadistic or masochistic abuse; or (iii) graphic or simulated lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person;

So unless the videotape captured the child "chocking the chicken" then it would not be illegal. Or somethign along those lines.

[gura]

It wasn't his camera to remove. He should have mooned it,

Or had sex with the nearest female teacher

[GOPJ]

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."

Taking pictures of young boys going to the bathroom is kiddy porn. The feds need to check this guy out... There might be more to the story -- much more.

[Arthalion]

Ha! That reminds me of high school. Our principal decided to install a video camera in the main school hallway when I was a kid to "improve security", and the camera instantly became a bubble gum magnet. After cleaning the gum off the lens every day for a month, the camera was put in a security housing. After that, it started attracting MORE gum, along with wet paper balls, mud, silly string, and all kinds of other nasty decorations. Eventually the principal simply started standing guard underneath the camera between classes to keep the students from damaging it.

At some point, someone pointed out to him that by standing in the hallway, he negated the entire purpose of having the camera in the first place. The camera was eventually removed, and the principal simply became a regular at that spot.

Someone should have told this kid about bubblegum. It's highly effective.

[rawhide]

Bibb County District Attorney, Howard Simms. He says cameras in public school bathrooms are legal because schools have more leeway on privacy issues.

Say it ain't true! What about putting a camera inside a girl's bathroom, is that okay? This DA cannot be right in what he is saying.

The solution would be to have adults stationed inside the restrooms during the breaks to prevent the vandelism.

[Dubya-M-Dees]

Sooooo.. someone stationed inside the bathroom is different from a camera stationed in the same position how?

[O6ret]

I added the part in parenthesis. The camera shouldn't have been there in the first place!

But the comment you added changed the very nature of the issue and made it seem to be something it was not.

Irrespective of whether the camera should have been there (and I trust that this will be dealt with appropriately--a suspension for the Principal?) the boy was punished for taking something that was not his, not for simply finding it.

[thoughtomator]

So basically, one kid deciding to masturbate in the bathroom makes the principal a child sex offender, yes?

[Arkinsaw]

What the hell is wrong with FR lately? I can't believe that there are people here that apparently think it's OK for the school to film 8th grade boys in the bathroom. That kid made the right assumption that some pervert put that in there, and he did the right thing by taking it out. Gawd, there's some sick, twisted puppies out there if they think the boy was wrong.

There is a certain attitude that leads some to believe that any authority figure or minor government functionary is automatically correct when dealing with "ordinary" citizens. 1776 was a bad year for that concept, but its making a comeback in the EU and sometimes in internet forums. Hopefully it is merely a passing phase and the trading of essential liberties for a little security will again become unpopular.

[Arkinsaw]

I don't agree with the camera in the bathroom but the kid had no right to steal it either.

Yeah, like our ancestors had no right to throw tea into the harbor.

What they are doing is teaching our children that it is normal for agents of the government to search them, search their possessions, make them pee in a cup, watch their most private moments with cameras, check their underwear to make sure they are not thong underwear, etc. etc. We have seen episodes of raids where they have handcuffed innocent children and searched them on the pretense of a "hunch" about drug activity. We've seen kids strip searched for 5 dollars. We see kids suspended for wearing a tourist t-shirt from a US Army base because it had an image of a statue of a US soldier on it holding a rifle.

They are training your children that they are subjects with no rights. I want my children trained that they are United States citizens with every protection of the Bill of Rights and that every minor government functionary is bound by the chains of the Constitution. That IS what a Free Republic is.

People amaze me sometimes that they do no jealously guard their liberties, and the liberties of their children in exchange for some feeling of security or order. They deserve neither liberty nor security.

[Xenalyte]

A Jasper County mother says her 8th grade son found a video camera taping in the school bathroom this week.

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.

Leaving alone the writer's unfamiliarity with the proper use of commas, what the hell was the high school principal doing putting cameras in a junior high bathroom?

[skinkinthegrass]

....at the soon to be named "Chuck Berry Junior High".

My...Your ****-****. :D

[unixfox]

The student was suspended for stealing the camera, not for finding it.

And if it were your kid?

[SteveMcKing]

"It wasn't his camera to remove. He should have mooned it, then called the police and a lawyer."

I condone initiative, but your method would have screwed the school better.

Tough call... What Would Jackass Do?

[Oztrich Boy]

Sure he did. I agree the kid shouldn't have taken it, though - a conviction is going to be harder to get if you don't have the evidence intact.

If the pervert wants his camera back, he has to admit puttingit there.

[GOPJ]

bump

[Billthedrill]

He doesn't. He didn't pay for it. We did.