Electronic Surveillance Use Policy
Notre Dame Academy uses electronic surveillance technology inside the building and on campus property for the purpose of maintaining a safe and orderly educational environment, for identifying disciplinary issues, for minimizing theft, vandalism, criminal activity, bullying, harassment, and for enforcing school policies and rules.
Parent(s)/guardian(s) are notified annually via the Parent & Student Handbook that surveillance technology is used inside the building and on campus property. This policy will be referenced in employee handbooks and on the school website.
Surveillance technology will be used according to the following guidelines:
A. Surveillance technology is authorized for use in the following areas where the public, students, and staff have no reasonable expectation of privacy: entrances, hallways, stairwells, commons, classrooms, gymnasiums, library, parking lots, athletic fields, and the exterior of buildings. Surveillance technology may not be used in any area where the public, students, or staff have a reasonable expectation of privacy including restrooms, locker rooms, health rooms and private offices.
B. Other public areas of the school building and campus grounds may be subject to limited term surveillance with the authorization of the President and/or his or her designee. Such approval will be granted only in situations where the President and/or his or her designee has reason to believe that a safe and orderly educational environment is at risk, or to monitor areas where theft, vandalism, bullying or harassment are believed to be occurring.
C. Surveillance technology may be monitored as needed and in emergency situations.
D. Only the school Administration and/or his or her designee shall be authorized to view the recording for the purpose of documenting a concern and determining student involvement. The surveillance technology recording shall not be available for viewing by the public in general, employees in general or media. For the purposes of viewing footage, the President’s designees shall be:
1. Principal, Associate Principal, Main Office staff, Director of Technology and/or Director of Maintenance.
E. Pursuant to state and federal law, the school reserves the right to provide copies of recordings to law enforcement agencies as deemed appropriate by the President and/or his or her designee.
F. The surveillance system may be used as a resource for investigations. Should a recording become part of a student disciplinary matter, the digitally segregated recording will become part of the student's behavioral record consistent with the school’s records policy and procedures. The school reserves the right to introduce surveillance technology recordings at any disciplinary hearing involving student misconduct or rule violations.
G. The following procedures apply to the viewing of surveillance technology recordings by parent(s)/guardian(s) when the recording provides a basis for student discipline:
1. Parent(s)/guardian(s) of students may be allowed to view the recording along with a school administrator or authorized school staff member. In limited circumstances, students may be allowed to view a recording where appropriate.
2. If more than one student is identifiable in a given frame or a series of frames, neither the student to be disciplined nor the student's parent(s)/guardian(s) will be able to view the recording unless:
a. The recording can be edited or altered so as to render all other students unrecognizable; or
b. Written consents are obtained from the parent(s)/guardian(s) of the other students. Consents must be signed, dated and must specify the records to be disclosed, the purpose of the disclosure, and the party or the parties to whom disclosure may be made. All written consents will be facilitated by the school using official school forms.
H. Except as provided for herein, surveillance recordings shall generally be available for no longer than 30 days and may be written over by subsequent recording. The school administration may extract and retain footage for any legitimate reason it deems necessary. In the case of footage retained as part of a student behavioral record, the footage shall be retained consistent with the school’s student record retention policy. All other saved recordings shall be disposed of in a secure manner at such time as the reason the footage was retained no longer necessitates its retention
Except as required by court order or in the case of a student record transferred to another school of attendance, no person outside the school shall be provided with a copy of any retained surveillance footage. If any part of this policy is held to be invalid by law or future court action, that part shall be immediately altered to reflect such decision and operating procedure shall also reflect such change.