The Burlington Community School district is among the first in the nation to outfit administrators at each of the district's eight school buildings with body cameras. The district is already outfitted with fixed cameras, which Superintendent Pat Coen says have proven useful.
"Earlier this school year, we had a child claim that one of our administrators kicked him repeatedly. We have cameras on our buses, we have cameras on our buildings we have cameras outside of our buildings. And by using a fixed cameras in the building, we were able to clearly understand and see the child was not kicked," says Coen. "As long as we have the right practices and right policies in place, this should be a win-win for everybody."
Coen says the cameras would only be used for a minority of conversations and adds the policy allows for leeway. "If the administrator feels like the camera will be a detriment, it will not be used."
