Is This Microphone Working?

Believe it or not, some parents are unaware of the laws governing the use of personal information and images when it comes to their children. For instance, it is against the law to photograph or produce video imagery that can identify a child under the age of 18 without the consent of a parent. In general, schools are permitted to use the image and likeness of students for limited purposes that advertise school events. Yet even this right can be limited if the parents sign documentation to the contrary. The following is an example of how ordinary practices of personal information can become negligible.

I was living in North Carolina in an apartment complex located close to an elementary school. Like most schools across America, they had become overcrowded and trailers were used as makeshift classrooms. To communicate between the main building and the trailers they used an outdoor public announcement system. This meant daily announcements were carried to the trailers via a loudspeaker that sat outside of the main building and everyone, including non-school affiliates within ear shot, could hear the announcements as well. Since I was awake, the morning announcements never really bothered me. Most days I would muse over the lunch menu and reminisce about my cafeteria meals when I was a kid. Then one afternoon I became agitated, not because they were serving hot dogs for lunch, but because they announced a child’s name repeatedly to come to the main office. Most likely it was some benign request like a parent that had come to pick up their child, but I couldn’t help but wonder how something so innocuous could go awry.

Here are some of the little things that go unnoticed as a problem, until it becomes one.  

1. A disgruntled parent that just lost visitation rights and doesn’t know the child’s whereabouts can overhear this announcement and try to take the child.
2. The child and a parent could be caught in a domestic violence situation and are hiding out from the abuser.
3. An enemy of a parent who wants payback can locate the child and kidnap them.
4. In terms of teenagers, a rival teen or a gang member could be looking for this student and now they know where to find them.

It is understood that our schools are becoming overpopulated and there are few quick fix solutions other than trailers, which have been tried and true for decades. That is why it is incumbent upon school districts to adhere to certain protocols when expanding classrooms to outdoors. This includes training teachers and staff about safety measures when students move between trailers and the main building. They should also consider buying trailers that have bathrooms inside so that students don’t have an excuse to leave the trailer and wander off.

Communication with the main building should be a priority. Whatever announcement that takes place inside the main building should happen in real time in the trailers for safety measures. If supplying mainstream communication is a financial burden, then the school should have people in place to walk to the trailers to deliver messages when a child is needed in the building. Finally, there should be safety buttons to alert security and administration or at least a working phone should something extreme occur in a trailer. All of these measures can help avoid a hazard that should never take place.

This is food for thought and another Paige from my book.