Parents Gather to Oppose “WebcamGate” Suit

Webcam lawsuit does not represent them, parents groups say

A group of Lower Merion parents want to stop a lawsuit against the school district, which involves school-issued laptop webcams, from officially becoming a class action suit.

The Lower Merion district parents will meet Tuesday night on the grounds that Blake Robbins Vs. Lower Merion School District does not represent them and will only drain the school district of money, reports the Inquirer.

"We have spoken to our neighbors and friends, and it seemed that there was a groundswell of opposition to one family with one lawyer bringing this action on behalf of the community," Bryn Mawr resident Michael Boni, who is one of the meeting organizers, told the Inquirer.

The lawsuit, which has yet to be officially certified as a class action by a judge, exposed the district’s ability to turn on webcams on student’s school-issued laptops at any time.

The district contends that the webcam activation was only used to locate lost or stolen laptops, while the suit alleges that administrators remotely activated Robbins’ webcam and took photos of 15-year-old in his home to use as evidence that the Harriton High School sophomore was engaged in “improper behavior.”

If the suit fails to get class action certification, "it would limit damages and litigation costs to a great degree," said Boni, who is an attorney that has litigated class action suits.

"There are a lot of us who are incredibly skeptical of the motives of the Robbins family,” Andy Derrow, a parent of a Harriton High School student, told the Inquirer.

Between 300 to 400 high school parents have already signed on to a group called lmsdparents.org, and a group called Parents in Support of the Lower Merion School District has already gotten more than 700 signatures on an online petition against making the lawsuit officially a class action.

The number of high school and district parents who want to attend the anti-lawsuit meeting has already exceeded the capacity of the Narberth hall in which it is to be held. Only people who have already signed up will be admitted.

The lawsuit against the district has brought national attention to the issue, causing school districts across the country to remove tracking software from school issued laptops. Both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office promise an investigation into the allegations.
 

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