To the Editor:
I was speaking to a business associate the other day and the subject of education came up during the course of our discussion. She was telling me that she had to review her daughter’s high school classroom work.
It turns out that her daughter attends a private school in Massachusetts. She was persuaded to send her daughter to that school in part because the school video tapes each and every class throughout the school day.
Think about this for a moment. The parents are given their child’s classroom schedule. Each night links are posted on the schools computer system. Parents are given access codes to log onto the school system’s computers and click on a class that they have interest in viewing.
While the concept may seem unnerving at first, a second look suggests that neither teacher nor student has anything to hide. They become so accustomed to the videotaping that no one seems to notice. The result is that teachers have fewer problems with discipline in the classroom.
Parents can see if their child is participating in class, as well as assess the quality of teaching going on in the classroom. Students benefit by being able to review the tapes for lessons they may have missed or need more time to absorb a particular lesson. It’s hard to argue with the benefits.
Security is tightly monitored and any misuse of a video feed is quickly traced back to the parent’s security clearance. Moreover, any video that can cause harm to a student is censured and viewed on a need to know basis, preventing a video from going viral on the internet. There have been no reported incidences of abuse and the school has an excellent reputation for turning out well prepared, well-educated students.
I thought to myself this may be something worth studying in Hamden. Perhaps we can install on a trial basis a similar system with parents, students and teachers volunteering to participate. We can then assess if there is a benefit to the program in Hamden. This idea may be worth considering.
Ron Gambardella
