Democrats oppose cameras
Bennett Stein said he appreciates the concern over student safety at Ann Arbor's Pioneer High School, but argues there are better ways to spend $80,000 than on security cameras.
Stein, executive president of Pioneer's student council, says that people such as hallway monitors and students are the key to promoting safety. "Cameras send a message of categorical distrust,'' he said.
Stein spoke at length during a panel discussion on the Pioneer High surveillance issue at a meeting of the Ann Arbor Democratic Party on Saturday in the Ann Arbor Community Center.
The discussion included Ann Arbor schools Superintendent Todd Roberts and Joshua Kay, chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washtenaw County.
Roberts said the request for cameras originally came from the Pioneer High School Parent-Teacher-Student Organization.
Roberts said Pioneer and Huron high schools are safe, that the broad goal at Pioneer is to efficiently provide the safest possible learning environment while allowing staff to do the best job they can in a school with about 170 entrances.
He praised the engagement and work of Pioneer's student leaders on the issue, noting that vigorously advocating for such a cause is what education is all about.
The district has received bids to place 53 cameras in Pioneer at a cost of $80,000. The school board is scheduled to vote on the bids at its Jan. 23 meeting.
Stein said nearly 1,000 students - out of a student body of about 3,000 - have signed a petition asking that cameras not be installed.
Stein cited privacy concerns and the potential for future abuse and suggested that other programs such as peer mentoring, peer mediation or adding another person in the halls would prove a more effective use of the money. "We need to engage the community in creating real solutions,'' he said.
He added that cameras often simply "drive problems out onto the street'' and that more serious crimes such as assaults arise from impulsive actions not necessarily deterred by surveillance.
The district placed 57 cameras at Huron High School last year with no controversy. Roberts said the only complaint was that they weren't installed fast enough.
School board member Susan Baskett said the Huron cameras were installed as a reaction to some fights at that school, and that the interest in cameras at Pioneer appeared to come from people following Huron's lead.
Baskett asked Stein why a student on Pioneer's PTSO didn't express concerns earlier, and Stein said there were no student representatives on that board.
Stein and others said Saturday they'd like to see how Huron's cameras work out in reducing problems. "Why plunge in at this point?'' Kay asked. "Why perpetuate the norm of a surveillance society?''
Stein said many of the nearly 600 reported thefts last year at Pioneer occurred in areas the cameras would not view.
Kay noted that many of those thefts consisted of small personal items such as i-Pods and cell phones, many of which were simply lost.
"We live in a very safe place,'' said Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje. "I don't know why in the world you'd want to impose cameras in our schools.''
At the meeting's end, the Democratic group passed a resolution opposing installing the cameras in city schools including Pioneer, instead urging the district to invest in other programs to enhance safety.
David DeVarti, the group's vice chair for fundraising, said he hoped the school board's decision could be postponed in order to study the issue further.
"The bottom line is we all want safe schools,'' he said.
Reporter Geoff Larcom can be reached at glarcom@annarbor news.com or 734-994-6838.
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