Students To Be Told To Appear On Camera Or Face Being Marked “Absent.”
Won’t Rule Out School Police Home Visits, DCFS Intervention If Students Do Not Appear.
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Students who refuse to turn on their computer’s camera, cover their camera with “post-it notes,” or point their camera to the ceiling or floor may be marked “absent” under a new initiative to be announced Friday in the Palm Beach County School District. School administrators tell BocaNewsNow.com that students need to be visible to teachers.
“Engagement is our number one issue,” said Palm Beach County School District Spokesperson Claudia Shea. “Principals have been seeking assistance from administration to get more ‘buy-in’ from parents and more family engagement.”
The problem is notable but not necessarily widespread. BocaNewsNow.com has learned that there tends to be an average of one or two students in each class refusing to appear on camera. Whether students are taking their own initiative by covering the camera, or parents are claiming privacy issues varies from case to case. But teachers — as mandatory reporters who must report signs of child abuse to authorities — want to see the students they’re teaching. It’s also an issue of effective education.
“Students don’t hide their faces when they’re in school,” said a teacher speaking with BocaNewsNow.com. “They shouldn’t hide their faces when they’re at home. I want to see the kids who I’m teaching, otherwise, I don’t know if they’re paying attention or sitting next to parents who are actually doing the work.”
School administrators say they understand that some students may be embarrassed to show their homes — if they even have a home.
“We know we have students who are homeless,” said Shea, ”we know we have students who may be learning while sitting in a car. We can work with these families if we know how to contact them.”
Contact is another issue. Shea said there are many parents who have not updated contact information with the school district, making it difficult — if not impossible — to reach them to offer help.
Another administrator speaking with BocaNewsNow.com said while there is no widespread plan to initiate home visits, it is not out of the question that school police officers — or investigators from the Florida Department of Children and Family Services — could be requested to seek families of students who are not visible to teachers on a daily basis.
Yep. My kid was on for several minutes then for what ever reason he appeared to be off and then on again for several minutes. He was marked absent.
My daughter has autism and for her keeping her face in the camera view is difficult for 7 hours. The school doesn’t seem to care and marks her absent and kicks her out of class constantly. I’m fed up.
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