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December 12, 2005

School board is bugged

School board members: Watch what you say. The police department in the city of Greece, N.Y., has investigated eavesdropping allegations after listening devices were placed in a school board meeting room, the Washington Post reports. No charges were filed.

The Post is on this because Greece's former superintendent, Steven L. Walts, has just been hired as chief of Prince William County schools in Northern Virginia. Cutting to the chase in today's Post article:

Residents discovered this summer, after Walts left, that tiny microphones had been installed in the ceiling of a school board room, without signs letting people know they were there. The equipment was immediately removed after residents complained that they were being spied on.

The police in Greece launched an investigation into whether anyone in Walts's administration violated a state eavesdropping law. Police interviewed Keith Imon, Walts's assistant superintendent for communications and technology in Greece, who was hired by Prince William to perform a similar job. Walts and Imon said the equipment was installed to have a record of any misconduct; earlier in the year, a resident was arrested after allegedly causing what school officials believed was a disturbance during a meeting. Imon said he had cleared the installation with a school system lawyer.

No charges were filed in the eavesdropping investigation because there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a school board room, said Thomas Brilbeck, an assistant district attorney in the town's surrounding jurisdiction, Monroe County.

Got that? So, today's lesson: For school board members, "privacy" often isn't.

Posted December 12, 2005 4:05 PM

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Comments(2)

Posted by: helen on December 13, 2005 9:36 AM

Keep checking. There is more. There is another source that has found this district to be the worst she has ever seen. She was a paid consultant from another state. I don't have details but someone does. Walts and his sidekicks left just in time.


Posted by: JimMc on December 13, 2005 1:15 PM

What I'm wondering is why they didn't simply consider videotaping their meetings? In fact, many boards here in Illinois broadcast their meetings on local public access cable channels (talk about ratings winners!). Being overt, honest, and transparent is likely a more effective deterrent than being secretive. As well as more acceptable.