Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Is kissing a girl "unusual behavior?"

Gig Harbor High School in Washington has changed the way in which it uses security cameras, and now says it will only use them for things like, you know, security. It caused quite a flap when someone from the school sent a video that showed two female students kissing to the parents of one of the girls because they had asked to be informed if their daughter engaged in any "unusual behavior." She was transferred to another school outside the district as a result, and the other girl says her privacy was invaded.
Not to get all legalistic, but these days, there's no way a reasonable person can have an expectation of privacy in the hallway of a high school. That being said, what the hell were the people in this school thinking when they sent to video off school premises to that kid's parents? And does anyone really believe they'd have done the same thing if the incident had involved a boy and a girl?
The story from the AP, here. The local TV news story (with audio of the transferred student's father, complete with the word "abomination") here.