And a true pervert will know that and use it.

Permission or not this is a matter of intent so nothing makes any sense regardless of existing policy.

I get the feeling that the op is more upset of having been called a pervert than the policy at hand. I do not know who called him that nor do I care, it is an extreme point of view that does make sense either unless the school or the person has had problems.

It is interesting to note that the more strident about an issues are usually perpetrators, not victims or potential victims.

If you recall in the 70~80 David Hamilton was selling openly in bookstores all over the world books of barely nubile girls and was accepted as an 'artist' now he would be thrown in jail for child pornography if nothing else.

Society 'morals' mean strictly nothing in the long run as they change from one pole to another and usually destroy lives that should never have been.

Ying and yang crap and all that. The simmering religious war taking place since the fall of the Shah of Iran is not helping either but polarizing opinions on many if not all subject. I get the feeling we are entering a new human dark age era. On one side the christian 'puritanism' under the form of politicization of beliefs and other a destabilization of 'established norms' from a more active muslim population.

Extremists on all sides show their ugly heads in the middle east as well as in the US as demonstrated recently in Oregon.

Photography of school kids in all that? Just a symptom of our mental illness. Kids sending each other sexually explicit images? Well, if you do not recall 'playing doctor' when a kid you are either lying or are senile. The difference is that before it was very private when now it is rather public and the social issues associated with sex are closing down creating a fertile ground for abuse and bullying.

I know I am going against the grain when typing this but hey! Being aware and awake does not mean being silent because few and fewer folks accept honesty.

And a true pervert will know that and use it.

Permission or not this is a matter of intent so nothing makes any sense regardless of existing policy.

I get the feeling that the op is more upset of having been called a pervert than the policy at hand. I do not know who called him that nor do I care, it is an extreme point of view that does make sense either unless the school or the person has had problems.

It is interesting to note that the more strident about an issues are usually perpetrators, not victims or potential victims.

If you recall in the 70~80 David Hamilton was selling openly in bookstores all over the world books of barely nubile girls and was accepted as an 'artist' now he would be thrown in jail for child pornography if nothing else.

Society 'morals' mean strictly nothing in the long run as they change from one pole to another and usually destroy lives that should never have been.

Ying and yang crap and all that. The simmering religious war taking place since the fall of the Shah of Iran is not helping either but polarizing opinions on many if not all subject. I get the feeling we are entering a new human dark age era. On one side the christian 'puritanism' under the form of politicization of beliefs and other a destabilization of 'established norms' from a more active muslim population.

Extremists on all sides show their ugly heads in the middle east as well as in the US as demonstrated recently in Oregon.

Photography of school kids in all that? Just a symptom of our mental illness. Kids sending each other sexually explicit images? Well, if you do not recall 'playing doctor' when a kid you are either lying or are senile. The difference is that before it was very private when now it is rather public and the social issues associated with sex are closing down creating a fertile ground for abuse and bullying.

I know I am going against the grain when typing this but hey! Being aware and awake does not mean being silent because few and fewer folks accept honesty.

This may go against the grain here, but I do believe that students, and their parents, should have an expectation of privacy within a school building.

As far as outdoor sports, if the games are open to the public, I don't think it would apply.

If I had a young daughter and the old man driving the school bus wanted to photograph her, I would be concerned. Even if everything is innocent, I would rather err on the side of caution.

You can always photograph birds while you are waiting. :)

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I am not asking the students to pose for me... I agree with the expectation of privacy when applied to normal school day activities. If you are playing sports, or performing with the band or suchlike, does the idea of privacy not seem ridiculous? They are *performing*, and this is taking place in a setting which is open to the public.
During the day, there is all kinds of security in place - even as a driver it is not a simple matter for me to enter the building. With a sporting event, the gym is open to the public...

I will grant you the courtesy of assuming that you meant to type "does NOT make sense" in the above paragraph.

As a bus driver, we have regular background checks carried out. If there were a hint of an issue in my past, I would not be doing the job.

It isn't the fact of what they may or may not have called me - I don't know the exact wording. I am upset about the refusal to let me photograph the games. More aggravating in the immediate sense, though, is the fact that my boss (who is a contractor) received this call from the transportation director (who is in charge of those contracts) about this. Given the prevailing attitude, I could actually be fired here, just for *asking* if I could take photographs! It was nothing to do with transportation. If the school had just called back and said no, I would not have been happy, but I feel that *this* amounts to a personal attack. I have not spoken to my boss yet, I was told of this by the secretary when I was picking up the papers for the trip. I half expect to get called to the office after this afternoon's bus run.

So yes, I am annoyed. You wouldn't be?

If you just walked in as a member of the public, would you be allowed to take pictures, or do they have a no photo policy? If the public is allowed in, and allowed to take pictures, I guess you could go on your own time instead of during work hours.

I'm not surprised about the phone call. If something happened to a kid on their way home from the game, having nothing to do with you, and it came out that somebody was asking about photographing the kid and it wasn't reported, heads would roll. You called and said your were the bus driver, how do they know who was on the phone?

Put yourself it the other party's shoes for a minute. You know who you are and what your intentions were. We don't, and neither do the people responsible for the kids.

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