During the 24-25 school years, six cameras have been installed inside buildings on PHS and MHS campuses. PHS Principal David Yoshihara said there are plans for more cameras to be installed throughout campus.
“There is conversation around a camera possibly inside the student center. There are internal bathrooms inside the student center, it’s also an area where there’s a lot of activity,” Yoshihara said. “[There’s] been some conversation inside Binks, a camera could help support some of that [fan behavior].”
PUSD first installed cameras for exterior views of campus at the start of the 2018 construction. Cameras were added around campus between 2018 and early 2021. TPH counted 21 cameras on campus, not including Witter field.
Yoshihara said there are around two dozen total cameras on campus, including the six new ones indoors. He said that the cameras are utilized for what the district hopes is a deterrent for behavior that is not permissible at school.
According to Piedmont Unified School District FAQs, parents and guardians are notified about the cameras in the Annual Notice and students are notified about general camera usage in the student handbook.
Yoshihara said the indoor cameras are positioned with access to the bathrooms. So on all floors of the STEAM building, one on the second floor of the 30s building bathrooms, and one in Binks gym,” Yoshihara said.
“That’s where we have most of the concerns around use of nicotine vapes and E-vapes, E-cigarettes, all of those products,” Yoshihara said.
The indoor cameras are directly connected to sensors inside of the bathroom.
“The sensors in the bathroom have certain triggers, like tampering with the sensor, or if somebody got hurt or they scream, for example if there’s an assault, or a cigarette or a vape, the sensor should alert,” Yoshihara said. “Once the alert happens, the camera rolls for about 20 or 30 seconds, and sees who comes out and that’s the probable cause.”
The exterior and interior cameras are Verkada Dome-Series, with each camera ranging to be roughly $900 to $3000. The Verkada Dome-Series camera and software has the ability to use AI facial recognition to create logs of people’s faces, and has a microphone to access sound.
Yoshihara said access to the cameras is limited to only a select few including Assistant Principal Joe Marik, Attendance Clerk and Campus Supervisor Michael Bell, Director of Facilities and Construction Manager Pete Palmer, and probably the Superintendent Jennifer Hawn.
The public has not been notified of the installation of the indoor cameras through any of the 2024-2025 PHS newsletters.
California Law says there are no requirements to post signs notifying people you have installed security cameras in California or any other state, as long as the cameras have been installed in a public place where people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
When cameras were installed outdoors for the STEM building construction, signs were placed around campus warning of video surveillance. Currently, there is no signage indoors.
“I think in today’s society, [hallways are] less [areas of reasonable expectation of privacy] than where it was [in the past],” Yoshihara said.
California Penal Code 632 forbids the recording of a ‘confidential communication’ without the express permission of all parties involved. This makes California a ‘two-party consent’ State. In practice, this means that you must obtain consent from all parties involved before recording a confidential communication.
According to Verkada, the vape detectors register smoke and sound through an all-in-one system which registers smoke, temperature, humidity, air quality, and noise levels through decibel sensors.
After learning about the new indoor cameras on campus, teachers and students reacted with concerns and questions on privacy and transparency.
“I did not know [cameras were being placed], I had no idea,” Math teacher Thomas Palsa said.
Junior Robyn Kim said she was not aware they were installing cameras.
“I didn’t know about this. I think it’s a waste of school funding. I think it’s extremely unnecessary to have cameras. It’s a complete violation of our privacy,” senior Hayden Jahn said.
Students have expressed concern and surprise upon not being notified of the installation of the cameras.
“Lets focus on paying our teachers before we set up cameras to put the students under scrutiny,” senior Nicholas King said.
Kim said she thinks it’s an invasion of privacy that the administration didn’t tell the people that they were installing them, and that the problem isn’t the cameras, it’s that they didn’t tell people.
“It seems like the administration does a really good job of notifying everybody about every little thing that’s happening around here and to install cameras in places that everybody goes, everybody walks, every day, and not tell anyone about it. It seems like an intentional omission,” Palsa said.
Kim said she thinks the school should tell people, or disclose that they have been installing them rather than just hiding them.
“If you treat people with distrust, they will behave in a way that’s distrustful. I think if you treat people with respect and you give them your trust, they will behave that way,” Palsa said. “I don’t think we’re sending a message with these cameras that we trust our students and we respect our students, I think we’re doing exactly the opposite. It’s not a prison, it’s a school.”
