Preston — The Board of Education on Monday will launch what likely will be the first discussion in the state on whether the town's elementary and middle schools should have video surveillance cameras in every classroom.

“I thought of it simply as an insurance policy both for the kids and for teachers,” Chairwoman Jan Clancy said. “That's what I was looking at, an insurance policy for the teachers. It's very easy for children to misinterpret something.”

Preston would be treading on new ground, said Vincent Mustaro, senior staff associate for policy services at the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. Mustaro said CABE has written sample policies for use of cameras on school grounds, hallways, entryways and public areas and on cellphone use in school, but none on video surveillance cameras in classrooms.

Questions of privacy, whether classroom activity would be monitored live and whether the recordings would become public record all would have to be addressed, Mustaro said. The recordings also raise questions about Fourth Amendment protection of privacy and from unreasonable searches.

“The bigger issue is that cellphones have camera capabilities,” Mustaro said. “That raises the whole issue of the presence of cameras in classrooms. (Policies) have gone from outright ban to permitting students to use them and limiting the use. Cellphones have a lot of power in terms of gaining information, so they can be used instructionally.”

Clancy said she wanted to raise the issue after news accounts of a November incident in West Haven in which a teacher was fired after he pulled a chair out from under a student. The incident was recorded on another student's cellphone camera.

“Police wear body cameras,” Clancy said. “We have them in the hallways, outside, and on the buses. Our grounds are monitored. Cameras on the buses have been used to monitor certain points, and the police have used them on the grounds and the bus.”

Clancy, a former teacher, said she and other school officials would have to do “a lot of research” before going forward with any proposal to add video cameras in the classroom, including whether camera recordings can be used to evaluate teacher performances.

Clancy has asked that teachers, parents, residents and board members discuss the issue at the board's 6:30 p.m. Community Relations Subcommittee meeting Monday in the Preston Veterans' Memorial School library. Clancy will summarize the discussion during the regular board meeting to follow at 7 p.m.

Several teachers said last week that they did not want to comment until the public meeting.

Superintendent John Welch obtained a price quote of $70,825 to install cameras in all 42 classrooms at PVMS and Preston Plains Middle School, not including the cost of maintaining, monitoring and upgrading the equipment, he said. Welch agreed that many questions need to be answered and detailed policies developed if cameras were added to classrooms.

Preston has 75 video cameras in school hallways entrances, parking lots and grounds — 34 at PVMS, 31 at PPMS, eight at the bus garage and two at a water pump house at PVMS.

Video cameras were installed on Preston school buses in 2011, Welch said, and those have been useful in resolving disputes and disciplinary issues. The difference, he said, is that students on school buses are not directly supervised, while teachers supervise classroom activity.

Both schools have surveillance cameras in the computer labs. Cameras were installed to protect against theft or vandalism of computer equipment, said computer teacher Susan Strader, not to monitor classes.

Strader said she asked her seventh- and eighth-grade students last year to do a research project on cameras in classrooms and to present their findings and opinions.

Some students said cameras would “catch problems when they happen,” and would reduce school violence. But others said cameras would invade students' privacy, “diminish kids' relationships with teachers” but also could “help people make better choices,” as one student wrote. Another student wrote that it seemed school violence and bullying has not decreased in Preston since hallway cameras were installed.

Parents interviewed last week on parent-teacher conference night also offered varying views about cameras in classrooms.

“I think the halls being monitored is enough, and the locked doors and cameras on the school buses,” said Mike Heinzelman, father of a seventh-grader and a fifth-grader. “That's more than enough.”

Jessica Berube, mother of a preschool student, said cameras in classrooms would “protect everybody. In this crazy world, some schools need it,” she said. “If there was an issue, I could see it.”

“I don't see why it would be an issue,” said Evelyn Ploof, mother of a fourth-grader. “They're on school buses. It wouldn't invade anybody's privacy. It's a good safety point, like having them outside. It would definitely resolve issues.”

Jessica Holder said she wouldn't mind classroom cameras for safety, but not to evaluate teachers.

“Taking a snippet of a teacher doesn't really show anything,” said Holder, mother of a kindergartner and a first-grader.

Mustaro, the CABE analyst and a former principal, said about 30 years ago he equipped an extra classroom with video equipment and offered teachers the chance to bring a class there for specific lessons “to try it out.” He said sometimes the teachers would ask him to review the tape and offer input on how the lesson went.

“If they are going to be used to monitor a lesson, it would have to be at the permission of the teacher,” Mustaro said. “You would have to notify parents and decide how long (the cameras would be in use). I do see a role for that, but indiscriminately having the camera there and on does raise all sorts of issues.”

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