It is not a controversial statement to say surveillance cameras inside schools are vital for the protection of students and staff, and Hudson is no different. Even though we live in a “bubble,” Hudson is not immune to external threats such as school shootings or bomb threats. We live in a time where American schools are coming under attack from shooters with military-style weapons, endangering millions of American children. In response to the various threats and previous school shootings, Ohio passed a law back in June that reduced the hours of training required for teachers to carry guns from 700 to less than 24. Some school districts have taken the state up on the law and have started to arm its teachers. Hudson has taken a different approach, adding more surveillance cameras to the school and improving security efforts such as having an alarm go off if the door by the senior parking lot opens during school hours. During the first day of school at orientation, Principal Mr. Miller said that HHS is now 99% covered with cameras, which is higher than the 50% of the school that was covered previously. The announcement was met with gasps and a shock from the student body, but it is important to keep in mind that these cameras are very beneficial to the school in maintaining security and protecting students and staff from possible threats outside.
The first and obvious reason as to why these cameras have benefitted the HHS community is because of the protection it provides students and staff. Cameras offer a guide to the main office and police officers to know what is going on around the school at all times and if a situation arouses, the administration knows exactly where it is and what is happening. Identifying the issue and the place would not have been easy previously with only 50% of the school covered by surveillance cameras. It is also important to keep a log of everyone that is going in and out of the building, seen through the surveillance cameras for security purposes and making sure no one who isn’t supposed to be in the school isn’t.
Another reason why these cameras that were added over the summer are crucial is because they help keep students in the building and not going in and out of the school so often. The last two years, it has been easy, almost too easy, for students to walk in and out of the school without anyone knowing. With the option of being able to eat in cars because of the coronavirus pandemic and there being a need for social distancing, students, particularly upperclassmen, ate lunch in their cars. This meant that the auditorium doors and the doors to the students parking lot were almost always unlocked. Students not in lunch and wanting to skip a class could easily do so as really no one would know until it showed up on attendance. This surely caused a problem with the administration as students were taking advantage of the pandemic to leave whenever they wanted. These surveillance cameras have aided administrators in making sure students are breaking out of their habits from the past few years and staying in the school, where we are supposed to be.
Some students and staff may argue that the addition to surveillance cameras in schools is an overreach on their privacy and they have done nothing but lose trust in students. While privacy concerns could be valid, especially if students and staff are unaware of the cameras (which they are aware of in Hudson), over the last 20 years, citizens have lost a little bit of privacy as external threats such as terrorism and school shootings have only got worse. Security cameras in schools help address the issue of those threats and in many cases like this, safety is much more important than privacy. In regards to losing trust, I believe students should actually be gaining trust in the administration because they are looking out for the students’ welfare in making sure everyone feels like they are in a safe and welcoming environment.
The addition of school surveillance cameras in HHS have been extremely beneficial to students and staff alike, in large part due to keeping everyone safe. No one should live in fear of going to their place of work or their school, and adding security cameras to protect students and staff from dangers is a great in-between of not arming teachers with weapons but on the contrary also not not taking action when the school security is potentially at risk.
