Two information-technology workers at a suburban Philadelphia school district that secretly activated webcams on students’ school-issued laptops are on paid leave amid an FBI wiretap investigation.
Lower Merion School District officials have said the webcams were only activated to locate missing laptops, and not for any rogue purpose.
“Placing them on administrative leave with pay is not a reflection of any wrongdoing on their part. It is a standard, prudent step in an investigation such as this one,” the district said in a statement Friday, confirming a Philadelphia Inquirer report.
Technician Michael Perbix and systems coordinator Carol Cafiero went on leave two weeks ago, after a student’s lawsuit revealed the district practice of taking webcam photos and screen shots when laptops were reported lost or stolen.
The district remotely activated 42 webcams in the last 14 months, successfully locating 18 of the computers. School officials have declined to describe the resulting photographs, or say if any were taken inside student homes. The district has halted the practice amid the lawsuit and resulting state and federal criminal probes.
In the civil suit, Harriton High School student Blake Robbins accuses school officials of invading his privacy by photographing him in his bedroom without permission. A vice principal later approached him, he said, and warned that school officials — based on webcam photos — suspected him of selling drugs.
Robbins, 15, denies the drug allegation. He claims Vice Principal Lindy Matsko mistook Mike & Ike candies for illicit pills.
Lower Merion, a wealthy district on Philadelphia’s Main Line, spent $21,600 per student in 2008-2009, the most in the Philadelphia region and nearly twice the $11,426 spent on Philadelphia children. The district issues the $1,000 Macintosh laptops to each of the 2,300 students at two high schools.
Robbins’ lawyer hopes to win class-action certification, but nearly 500 district parents have signed on…