Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

Although the fact has not been heavily-publicized, the illegal spying also garnered nudes, semi-nudes of students. Including explicit and including masturbation. Of both g****rs. Which leaves the question of why there were no criminal charges filed? Does getting a school bureaucrat job make people arrogant morons? Or does the job attract arrogant morons? Or both? And another question is why there weren't more suits? Perhaps a settlement should have included an "eye for an eye" clause, forcing the bureaucrats to be photographed and the photos placed on the web. Any comments by me below are in ALL CAPS.

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Lower Merion School District Settles Webcam Spying Lawsuits For $610,000
Posted: 12/11/2010 5:12 am EST Updated: 05/25/2011 6:00 pm EDT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A Philadelphia-area school district has agreed to pay $610,000 to settle two lawsuits over secret photos taken on school-issued laptops.

The Lower Merion School District admits it captured thousands of webcam photographs and screen shots from student laptops in a misguided effort to locate missing computers.

Lower Merion High School student Blake Robbins, then 15, charged in an explosive civil-rights lawsuit filed in February that the district used its remote tracking technology to spy on him inside his home. Later evidence unearthed in the case showed that he was photographed 400 times in a two-week period, sometimes as he slept in his bedroom, according to his lawyer, Mark Haltzman.

The settlement calls for Robbins to get $175,000 and a second student who filed suit, Jalil Hassan, to get $10,000. Their lawyer, Mark Haltzman, will get $425,000 for his work on the case.

The FBI investigated whether the district broke any criminal wiretap laws, but prosecutors declined to bring any charges. [WHY THE H..L NOT?]

[IN A MEALY-MOUTHED SANCTIMONIOUS NON-APOLOGY PR STATEMENT:] "Although we would have valued the opportunity to finally share an important, untold story in the courtroom, we recognize that in this case, a lengthy, costly trial would benefit no one," school board President David Ebby said in a statement late Monday. "It would have been an unfair distraction for our students and staff and it would have cost taxpayers additional dollars that are better dev**ed to education."

The district's insurer has agreed to pay $1.2 million toward legal and settlement costs. The carrier, Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance Company, had questioned in a lawsuit whether costs associated with the webcam suit would be covered under the district's policy.

Neither Haltzman nor the Robbins family returned calls for comment Monday.

Hassan has since graduated from Lower Merion High School, and a phone number for him could not immediately be determined.

The district issues Apple laptops to all 2,300 students at its two high schools.

The district's review found that its technology staff captured at least 56,000 images through the remote tracking program, which was sometimes left on inadvertently for months after laptops were located.

Robbins said he had never reported his computer missing, and did not know why the program was activated on his laptop.

District officials said he had damaged or destroyed two other school laptops, and failed to pay the required $55 insurance fee on the one he had. He was therefore not authorized to bring it home, a technology official said in court papers.

According to his suit, Robbins learned of the practice when a Harriton vice principal cited a laptop photo in telling him that the school thought he was engaging in improper behavior. Robbins told reporters the school had mistaken candy he was seen eating for drugs.

The district is no longer using the tracking program.

Robert Graybeal Loc: Myrtle Beach

"The settlement calls for Robbins to get $175,000 and a second student who filed suit, Jalil Hassan, to get $10,000. Their lawyer, Mark Haltzman, will get $425,000 for his work on the case."

How can this be right???
I thought 33% attorney fee was too high.

green Loc: 22.1749611,-159.646704,20

probably a class action suit... everyone with one of those laptops probably got $2K-$3K.

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

It was not a class action and you should read more closely. In addition to the school district paying $610,000 the school district's insurance carrier is paying out over a million bucks. The case, btw, was not a class action but arguably could have been.

One wonders how many nudes of young girls the bureaucrats viewed. And kept. Will they start showing up on the web?

bvm Loc: Glendale, Arizona

Just two more examples of well run democRAT , NEA union run schools.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

From 34 years with Los Angeles Unified School District I think the answer to does the job make arrogant morons or attract them is mostly attract, or at least the jobs attract those with a bent towards being arrogant and talent in the moron area. Well actually that is unfair to morons, they have the excuse of r****dation, which the admin types should not have (I hope, but am not sure.)

The big problem is the whole career field attracts a % of people with a tendency to either being p*******es, control freaks, arrogant or a mixture. Lots of kids available, authority over them, an elite mind set due to being "experts in child psy and education" all honed by a bunch of elitist academics in the Ed. Schools.

Using the remote cameras to track missing laptops is a legitimate thing. But 400 times with one boy is really questionable behavior on someone's part.

Incompetent or mentally bent types in the classroom and admin were just tucked away in obscure jobs or moved from place to place frequently. We called it the "Dance of the Lemons" in LAUSD.

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

I went to excellent school from the end of elementary school onwards. But still ran into morons, especially in the P.E. department. One moron caused numerous injuries with a sequence of idiocies, including forcing unathletic, untrained, JR High kids to attempt high hurdles. Another of his favorites until halted by student injury and lawsuit was mob wrestling competitions barefoot on the rubber matts. (Can you say "compound dislocated toes?") IMO one of the potentially lethal idiocies was having untrained, marginal swimmers, try out SCUBA gear in the pool with 10 minutes "instruction." And some of that instruction, I now know as a Certified Open Water Diver, was erroneous. Even in my schools there were plenty of stupid/incommpetent/arrogant teachers...protected by bureaucracy, tenure, and union rules. I can only imagine what it must be like in lesser schools.