$3,000 Per Classroom School Camera System

In Michigan it is illegal to record audio without consent from all parties. It's not clear how these laws would apply to a system like this, but it could potentially mean trouble if someone tries to challenge the audio capability.

I don't think that there will be any successful challenges from the student body though, unless teachers have changed since I was there...

These laws are more generally 'eavesdropping' laws and although usually referenced in the context of making some electronic copy of a conversation, they equally apply to simple interception and disclosure when a party has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

And as this ex-4th grader can attest, in class at least, you are legally subject to interception and disclosure even when you think you have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Though had I thought of it at the time, I'm sure I would have at least offered the law up as a defense, right before my handwritten and carefully folded and private declaration was both 'intercepted' and 'disclosed' to my jeering classmates.

I saw a demo of the Audio Enhancement system. I came away with a whole new insight into what is going on in the classroom. The teachers are demanding video as a way to protect themselves. I even heard one parent say that her child wanted video in the classroom too. Seems classrooms have become dangerous places to work and learn. The system started as an audio enhancement to classroom learning and they have the data to prove it. The video has been added as a multi use tool. The teachers have full control during the day and security can get the surviellance they need at night, including listen-in capabilities.

The camera is a custom panasonic 360 with some visual components added, so everyone can see the status of the cameras use. They put an eyelid type cover to show camera is not in use.

I perdict a camera in every classroom of the future!

It's only tangentially related to this post, but I wonder what effect these anti-eavesdropping statutes have on the use of Lecture Capture Systems. Lecture Capture Systems are becoming increasingly common in university settings. They are starting to work their way down into high school and, as this post demonstrates, junior high and elementary level classrooms. For a university in Michigan, would they need to get explicit consent from every student before they could record lectures? Perhaps they could just notify the students (and/or the students' parents) that the lectures will be recorded and then they could claim that the student attending the lecture constitutes implied consent?

Where the heck is the Michigan Teachers Union on this? We have had to pull cameras out of Gyms / Off of stadiums because its considered a "Class Room" and the PSEA (PA State Education Association) will fight tooth and nail to keep cameras out of the Classrooms..

Knowing what we have dealt with here in PA makes this artical just mind blowing....

Related: UK article covering concerns about growing use of cameras inside their classrooms.

A high school asked me about the Audio Enhancement's 'SAFE' system, so naturally I had to research it first on IPVM. I was hoping to discover who manufactures their cameras and if anyone had experience specifying or installing this system.

It is a combination of fisheye cameras as mentioned above as well often a PTZ camera. The PTZ can be aimed at a preset looking at a wall for privacy, but when the panic button is pressed, it moved to another preset.

In the past, there were also housings with a privacy shutter (I think there was a fisheye with the shutter built in to the camera). eliminating the need for a PTZ for privacy.

Essentially, the audio enhancement system is a handheld or pendant mic using line of sight transmission. The panic button is tied to the camera alarm input, as well as to the master control unit in the school office. (Maybe they have upgraded to better network functionality).

Many schools have requirements for in classroom audio, and this was a way to hook cameras/safety/security into the pendant that the teacher wears all day. Also the audio from laptops, etc. can be tied into the speakers for a unified system. Panasonic at the time was trying to be a single source for cameras, audio, laptops, interactive whiteboards, printers, etc.