Toilet Spy Cam – Latest Tauranga High School to Observe Students in Restrooms

A Bay of Plenty college is the latest high school to raise concerns about security cameras in student bathrooms.

A mother of two girls at the school was horrified to discover that Otumoetai College had installed spy cameras inside student bathrooms.

The woman, who does not want to be named, told the school that her daughters will not use the bathrooms until they are removed.

He states that the spherical cameras are high up on the bathroom walls, capturing the view from inside the cubicles.

But the school says the cameras are only in public restroom areas to ensure individual safety and the safety of its students.

The woman said she thought her daughter was wrong when she said the school had placed cameras inside the bathrooms.

He took a picture of her to convince her that they were real and that his daughter was not making up the story.

“I really thought my little girl was wrong when she told me there were cameras in the girls’ bathrooms.

“Honestly, I didn’t think schools could do that. And they hadn’t told us.”

After seeing photographic evidence of the spy camera, she contacted a dean of the school to raise her concerns, but claims they told her “not to be ridiculous” and “that’s not what we do.”

However, the principal confirmed to the horrified mother that cameras were installed throughout the school last year after a decision by the board of directors.

They told him they were meant to counteract a graffiti problem in the restrooms and only two people had access to the images: him and the person in charge of IT.

The principal tried to reassure the mother that the privacy of the students was not at stake with the view into the darkened cubicles, he said.

“I don’t even want to think about my daughter using the bathroom and having someone watch her.

“That is disgusting.

“I told the school that my daughters would never use the toilets,” she said.

“It is completely inappropriate that they have,” he said.

She believed that the parents should have been notified.

Other parents he had contacted were also outraged.

But Otumoetai College principal Russell Gordon told the Herald that the cameras had been in place for about 20 months and were only showing the laundry areas and were not capturing any views inside the cubicles.

“The reason for these cameras is to ensure individual safety and the safety of our students,” he said.

Prominent notices indicated the presence of cameras in restrooms and the school had clear policy guidelines on storage and access to collected information.

Gordon said he had only received one complaint from a parent concerned about the placement of a camera, but it only showed students entering and leaving the bathrooms and did not capture any views inside the cubicles, he said.

Last week, the Herald reported that Rutherford College students ripped a closed-circuit television camera outside the boys’ bathrooms because they feared it could capture them exposed.

The school defended the cameras, saying they were there to protect the students and record any incidents that occurred.

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