Privacy at High School

Joanne Jacobs has a story about two girls at a Washington State high school who were caught on a security camera kissing.

Video cameras at Gig Harbor High School were installed to catch trespassers, fights, harassment – the stuff that threatens safety at the campus of 1,700 students.
The surveillance system has also helped administrators find and discipline students who break rules, such as leaving trash on a lunch table.

But the high school says it will tighten its own rules on security cameras after two female students were filmed kissing and holding hands.

Keith Nelson, the high school’s dean of students for almost two years, shared the footage with the parents of one of the girls. They have since transferred her to a school outside the Peninsula School District, officials said.

“It’s not our normal practice,” said Principal Greg Schellenberg. “It’s not going to happen again.”

The other girl, who remains at Gig Harbor High, says their privacy was invaded.

“We weren’t doing anything inappropriate, nothing anyone else wouldn’t do,” she said.

The girl, a 17-year-old senior, described the kiss as a quick “peck.”

The News Tribune is not naming her because she is a minor and her family feared retaliation. Her father works for the newspaper.

Nelson said the parents who transferred their daughter approached him before the kissing incident. They asked him to notify them of any out-of-the-ordinary behavior, he said.

A few weeks later, he was inside the busy high school commons area, where by chance he witnessed the kiss, he said. He went back to the security room, watched the footage and invited the parents to view it.

There’s no expectation of privacy when students are in a crowded place, Nelson said. And he would have acted the same way if it had been a boy and a girl kissing, he said.

Okay, from a parental perspective, I can see asking the principal to report to parents any "out-of-the-ordinary behavior" and I don't really fault the principal for acceeding to the parental concerns. Also, I fully support the notion that a high school commons area is not a place where anyone, let alone two minors, would have any expecation of privacy.

However, I do dispute the notion that the principal would have reacted the same way if the girl had kissed a boy. Yes, such public displays of affection are usually against the rules, but often the rule is ignored by students and staff alike if the kiss is indeed a quick peck. So long as the kiss doesn't cross into spit swapping or other more aggressive behaviors, a quick kiss is usually ignored and perhpas rightfully so.

But the fact that it was two girls kissing, and the incident becomes much more involved and perhaps to the level of a double standard. Had this been a boy-girl kiss, maybe, maybe, there would have been a warning, but I would guess that boy-girl PDAs are not policed nearly to this level.