EdSurge

As federal and state legislation swirls over the usage of cellphones and personal devices in classrooms, there is a renewed push for another form of technology: surveillance cameras. Legislators in Florida, Iowa, Maryland, South Carolina, and Tennessee introduced video surveillance bills this year, proposing to place cameras in self-contained special education classrooms, which are rooms solely for students with special needs. The move comes as a handful of states – Louisiana, West Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama – have adopted the legislation over the last decade to curb harmful physical practices. That includes teachers using restraints on students with behavioral issues and, in some cases, placing them in seclusion rooms or resorting to physical violence.

Most advocacy groups – including the Council of Parents Attorneys and Advocates and the National Center for Learning Disabilities – have not taken an official stance on the issue. “[In 2015] was the first time we’ve started to really debate even how we felt about it,” COPAA’s Marshall says, adding that opinions in the group are mixed. “I think it’s too early to tell with the research what the effects are, and I don’t think the states are collecting the data to help understand.”