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Frederick County Public Schools will expand its use of cameras in special education classrooms this fall, which is welcome news.
The school board finalized a memorandum of understanding with its three labor unions Aug. 5. The agreement will enable the system to expand its camera pilot program to include four new schools: Rock Creek School, North Frederick Elementary School, Governor Thomas Johnson Middle School and Governor Thomas Johnson High School.
Classrooms that were in phase one of the program at Middletown Primary School, Oakdale Middle School and Catoctin High School will continue having cameras.
Teachers might be somewhat reluctant. After all, no one doing any kind of job really wants Big Brother looking over their shoulder.
But, as has been the case with police officers now widely equipped with body cameras, teachers likely will discover that the camera is their friend.
When a complaint is filed, the footage can show exactly what happened in a classroom, eliminating the "he said/she said" issue. Good teachers -- that is, most teachers -- will be vindicated when their behavior is questioned.
That has been the upshot of police officers wearing body cams -- confirmation that the majority of officers are doing good work under often difficult circumstances. We believe special ed teachers will have the same experience.
Teaching in special education is challenging, exhausting work. The vast majority of such educators are dedicated and come to the profession to improve the lives of children facing hard times.
But not always.
And when the bad apple shows up, the complaints from children, parents and sometimes other teachers must be taken seriously and quickly investigated. That is what the cameras allow administrators to do.
FCPS began its pilot program in seven specialized program classrooms on Jan 20.
During a June 10 school board meeting, board President Dean Rose vowed to add approximately 25 specialized program classrooms per year to the program, so that by 2030, each of those classrooms will have a camera.
In an interview with Frederick News-Post reporter Sarah Rubinstein, Rose said his goal is to have all special education classrooms have cameras by 2030.
The only direct costs for the program is for the cameras and the required license per camera, which is part of FCPS' Security and Emergency Management Department budget and the Maryland Safe Schools Grant.
Before the new classrooms were chosen for the program, Rose advocated for the priority to be on classrooms with nonverbal students or Rock Creek School, which provides individualized special education programs for students with severe intellectual, physical, emotional, hearing, visual and learning disabilities.
Sarah Sirgo, chief of staff for FCPS, that was done, starting with a focus on students in the Expressions program who have communication challenges, followed by Learning for Life, RISE, and Pyramid programs.
Cindy Rose, who has run unsuccessfully for the school board, has been advocating for the cameras for several years. Her son graduated from Rock Creek in May.
"It's about time that cameras were included in Rock Creek," she told our reporter. "Rock Creek should have always been the first school they were ever put in; that's where the most vulnerable students are."
As part of the expansion, 13 classrooms will add cameras at Rock Creek School.
Pressure began building for the school system to install cameras in special education classrooms in 2021, after the U.S. Department of Justice released a shocking report that the FCPS staff had systematically and improperly used seclusion and restraint against students with disabilities.
It is shameful that the program was delayed so long. But now it is up and running, and we look forward to its further expansion.
-- Frederick News-Post