videotaping play yard within school safe zone

[annegg]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Hey Everyone !
Our district is LAUSD.
Is it legal , or a violation of student privacy, for someone to videotape children and staff etc... on a play yard during regular school hours without permission from the district from a distance just outside the school grounds ?
I guess it is about double the width distance of a standard sidewalk away from the play yard, and another 10 feet from the children.
Oh yes, videotape in concealment, like from the back of a car with tinted windows.

Thanks !

 

[cyjeff]

Are you the one doing the taping?

 

[CdwJava]

In most cases, yes, videotaping a public place from a place where you have a lawful right to be is perfectly lawful. However, if you are taping kids in a playground or on a school, expect a few contacts with the police as people WILL call about the whacky perv taping kids.

 

[justalayman]

Carl, do you have anything such as a "safe zone" near schools. I cannot remember what tv news guy I was reading about but wherever it was, there was a "safe zone" around the school where the school could express a great amount of control. The guy got busted for videotaping in the safe zone although it was eventually dropped but only because of some rule based on it being a legit news station doing the taping. From what the article stated, a private individual could legitimately be arrested for taping within that zone without the schools permission.

 

[DAD10]

My sister owns a daycare child school in Beverly Hills- a chain link fence borders the playground.


She had to cover it with mesh for the paparazzi-and mentioned a 20-50 ft safe zone for filming. I do not have a citation for this- but I'll check and repost.

 

[swalsh411]

It may be legal but that doesn't make it a good idea. Don't be too shocked if a parent busts your window with a crowbar, takes your camera, and anonymously hands it over to the police along with your license plate number. Won't that be fun to explain.

 

[Humusluvr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Hey Everyone !
Our district is LAUSD.
Is it legal , or a violation of student privacy, for someone to videotape children and staff etc... on a play yard during regular school hours without permission from the district from a distance just outside the school grounds ?
I guess it is about double the width distance of a standard sidewalk away from the play yard, and another 10 feet from the children.
Oh yes, videotape in concealment, like from the back of a car with tinted windows.

Thanks !

I didn't see anywhere where the OP mentioned it was s/he doing the taping.

Who is taping? Why? What is the problem>?

Need more details to fully answer.

 

[BOR]

Altough it may be "per se" legal, this area of law is not well settled to where the 1st AM is an absolute protection.

In my state if an act annoys a person and serves no lawful purpose, it could be considered Disorderly conduct. Legal emphasis added to annoy, as many things can annoy a person but do not rise to a criminal act

As Carl pointed out, taping children without a legitimate business purpose, etc., expect some temporary detention for investigative purposes.

 

[bobbybats]

It may be legal but that doesn't make it a good idea. Don't be too shocked if a parent busts your window with a crowbar, takes your camera, and anonymously hands it over to the police along with your license plate number. Won't that be fun to explain.

im sure captain vigilante is in the clear

 

[swalsh411]

I didn't see anywhere where the OP mentioned it was s/he doing the taping.

Who is taping? Why? What is the problem>?

Need more details to fully answer.

I'll go out on a limb here and assume either the OP wants to do the taping or is asking on behalf of somebody doing the taping. If it were a concerned parent asking about another party taping their kids playing at school, they would have either gone to the police or taken matters into their own hands.

 

[annegg]

Wow thanks for your responses !
It is a parent who is a "serial" bully at our school.
She claims her child is being bullied " by a girl in green pants" . It would take an entire class to even knock this kid to the ground, and he would shove half into the wall first...which he does. The kid has major anger issues. Two days before she announced her " MY CHILD is the victim of a bully defense" her child actually shoved another class mate into a wall to get a play ball away from them. A typical pattern when this kind of thing ultimately happens is to mount an assassination of the entire school.
The disturbed nature of his childhood is written all over his face. Anger and confusion. Sad picture.
Her child is also growing into moms shoes and has a permanent case of woe-is-me and liar liar pants on fire -itis. Enuf sarcasm.
Seriously, it didn't hit me till last nite that she was probobly taping the playground because this time ( day 5) she popped out of nowhere when the bell rang ( actually popped out of the backseat) and pulled away in her car when none of us thought she was actually in the car this time. Shocked !
Her hubby is a "cameraman" .
They are both nuts.

I thought about calling the police because altho her child is at the school, the "issue" was resolved as far as the school was concerned...the child even denied the mothers accusations. ( hope for them yet) Yet she persists on hanging out precisely at break times to the minute out side the chain link fence right next to where her child is playing. The child looks over at her alot. It is disruptive IMO.
Any other person doing the same thing I would contact the office ( which I did) and expect them to deal the same way , " what do you want here ? " but so far , nothing except the admin getting alot of background on this mother, which , is going to take them through the entire faculty and past and present parents. Documentation.

Now, the child is not in school today. Another manipulation attempt that has been played out for years.
Her stalking and the poor attendance of the child starts when she is out witted by our knowing staff and every claim she makes is proven to be a fabrication , distortion of the facts to make her issue a non issue. She doesn't realize she has been unmasked as a bully and keeps up this same BS. Yes, it is annoying to ALL the staff.
Could maybe a pattern of behavior give the school just cause to do SOMETHING other than wait for the other shoe to drop ?

 

[Zigner]

Wow thanks for your responses !
It is a parent who is a "serial" bully at our school.
She claims her child is being bullied " by a girl in green pants" . It would take an entire class to even knock this kid to the ground, and he would shove half into the wall first...which he does. The kid has major anger issues. Two days before she announced her " MY CHILD is the victim of a bully defense" her child actually shoved another class mate into a wall to get a play ball away from them. A typical pattern when this kind of thing ultimately happens is to mount an assassination of the entire school.
The disturbed nature of his childhood is written all over his face. Anger and confusion. Sad picture.
Her child is also growing into moms shoes and has a permanent case of woe-is-me and liar liar pants on fire -itis. Enuf sarcasm.
Seriously, it didn't hit me till last nite that she was probobly taping the playground because this time ( day 5) she popped out of nowhere when the bell rang ( actually popped out of the backseat) and pulled away in her car when none of us thought she was actually in the car this time. Shocked !
Her hubby is a "cameraman" .
They are both nuts.

I thought about calling the police because altho her child is at the school, the "issue" was resolved as far as the school was concerned...the child even denied the mothers accusations. ( hope for them yet) Yet she persists on hanging out precisely at break times to the minute out side the chain link fence right next to where her child is playing. The child looks over at her alot. It is disruptive IMO.
Any other person doing the same thing I would contact the office ( which I did) and expect them to deal the same way , " what do you want here ? " but so far , nothing except the admin getting alot of background on this mother, which , is going to take them through the entire faculty and past and present parents. Documentation.

Now, the child is not in school today. Another manipulation attempt that has been played out for years.
Her stalking and the poor attendance of the child starts when she is out witted by our knowing staff and every claim she makes is proven to be a fabrication , distortion of the facts to make her issue a non issue. She doesn't realize she has been unmasked as a bully and keeps up this same BS. Yes, it is annoying to ALL the staff.
Could maybe a pattern of behavior give the school just cause to do SOMETHING other than wait for the other shoe to drop ?

Frankly, I fail to see what the big deal is, based on the info you have given above.

 

[CdwJava]

Carl, do you have anything such as a "safe zone" near schools. I cannot remember what tv news guy I was reading about but wherever it was, there was a "safe zone" around the school where the school could express a great amount of control. The guy got busted for videotaping in the safe zone although it was eventually dropped but only because of some rule based on it being a legit news station doing the taping. From what the article stated, a private individual could legitimately be arrested for taping within that zone without the schools permission.

We do not have anything like that around here, and I strongly suspect that any such ordinance could be successfully challenged on Constitutional grounds.

We have "drug free" zones around schools, but I have a hard time believing that a safety zone prohibiting the taping of kids in such a locale could be lawful. If that were the case, forget about the school, or a parent, taping a kids' activity at school.

 

[CdwJava]

Wow thanks for your responses !
It is a parent who is a "serial" bully at our school.
She claims her child is being bullied " by a girl in green pants" . It would take an entire class to even knock this kid to the ground, and he would shove half into the wall first...which he does. The kid has major anger issues. Two days before she announced her " MY CHILD is the victim of a bully defense" her child actually shoved another class mate into a wall to get a play ball away from them. A typical pattern when this kind of thing ultimately happens is to mount an assassination of the entire school.
The disturbed nature of his childhood is written all over his face. Anger and confusion. Sad picture.
Her child is also growing into moms shoes and has a permanent case of woe-is-me and liar liar pants on fire -itis. Enuf sarcasm.
Seriously, it didn't hit me till last nite that she was probobly taping the playground because this time ( day 5) she popped out of nowhere when the bell rang ( actually popped out of the backseat) and pulled away in her car when none of us thought she was actually in the car this time. Shocked !
Her hubby is a "cameraman" .
They are both nuts.

I thought about calling the police because altho her child is at the school, the "issue" was resolved as far as the school was concerned...the child even denied the mothers accusations. ( hope for them yet) Yet she persists on hanging out precisely at break times to the minute out side the chain link fence right next to where her child is playing. The child looks over at her alot. It is disruptive IMO.
Any other person doing the same thing I would contact the office ( which I did) and expect them to deal the same way , " what do you want here ? " but so far , nothing except the admin getting alot of background on this mother, which , is going to take them through the entire faculty and past and present parents. Documentation.

Now, the child is not in school today. Another manipulation attempt that has been played out for years.
Her stalking and the poor attendance of the child starts when she is out witted by our knowing staff and every claim she makes is proven to be a fabrication , distortion of the facts to make her issue a non issue. She doesn't realize she has been unmasked as a bully and keeps up this same BS. Yes, it is annoying to ALL the staff.
Could maybe a pattern of behavior give the school just cause to do SOMETHING other than wait for the other shoe to drop ?

It sounds like either the staff at the school needs to interview a whole bunch of kids to get to the bottom of things, or it is time to get some additional supervision out on the playground.

 

[Humusluvr]

Wow thanks for your responses !
It is a parent who is a "serial" bully at our school.
She claims her child is being bullied " by a girl in green pants" . It would take an entire class to even knock this kid to the ground, and he would shove half into the wall first...which he does. The kid has major anger issues. Two days before she announced her " MY CHILD is the victim of a bully defense" her child actually shoved another class mate into a wall to get a play ball away from them. A typical pattern when this kind of thing ultimately happens is to mount an assassination of the entire school.
The disturbed nature of his childhood is written all over his face. Anger and confusion. Sad picture.
Her child is also growing into moms shoes and has a permanent case of woe-is-me and liar liar pants on fire -itis. Enuf sarcasm.
Seriously, it didn't hit me till last nite that she was probobly taping the playground because this time ( day 5) she popped out of nowhere when the bell rang ( actually popped out of the backseat) and pulled away in her car when none of us thought she was actually in the car this time. Shocked !
Her hubby is a "cameraman" .
They are both nuts.

I thought about calling the police because altho her child is at the school, the "issue" was resolved as far as the school was concerned...the child even denied the mothers accusations. ( hope for them yet) Yet she persists on hanging out precisely at break times to the minute out side the chain link fence right next to where her child is playing. The child looks over at her alot. It is disruptive IMO.
Any other person doing the same thing I would contact the office ( which I did) and expect them to deal the same way , " what do you want here ? " but so far , nothing except the admin getting alot of background on this mother, which , is going to take them through the entire faculty and past and present parents. Documentation.

Now, the child is not in school today. Another manipulation attempt that has been played out for years.
Her stalking and the poor attendance of the child starts when she is out witted by our knowing staff and every claim she makes is proven to be a fabrication , distortion of the facts to make her issue a non issue. She doesn't realize she has been unmasked as a bully and keeps up this same BS. Yes, it is annoying to ALL the staff.
Could maybe a pattern of behavior give the school just cause to do SOMETHING other than wait for the other shoe to drop ?

Then it is your administration's fault for not doing anything about the bullying, or the mother - who is also showing bullying behavior, IMO.

The other option is for the concerned group of parents that you are, to go to the school and stand in front of the van where the taping is being done. Don't let it happen. Get in the way, EVERY TIME. Don't talk to the lady, don't touch her or her van, just obstruct her view. Make happy signs if you need to (OUR SCHOOL ROCKS, or OUR STUDENTS ARE NUMBER ONE - then it's a motivational tool also.)

If lady wants to continue being a jackhare, she will have to take it to another level, and then maybe she can be dealt with by law enforcement.

It works with Westboro, should work for you guys too.