The installation of video and audio surveillance cameras in schools will be done with the consent of the simple majority of parents, adult students, but also of the employees in the respective educational unit.
New rules for installing audio and video cameras in schools. Photo source: archive
It is about an Emergency Ordinance that is on the agenda of the Government meeting on Friday and that modifies the decision taken initially. According to the latter, the installation of the surveillance systems should have been done without asking for the consent of parents, students and teachers. However, the pressure of an important part of civil society, as well as of specialists in the protection of personal data, made the elected officials change their mind: they decided to ask for the consent, however. The same project, however, provides an exception to the rule: in situations with a high risk of violence in schools, surveillance systems can be installed only with the information of the persons concerned.
Surveillance cameras in schools. The most important provisions of the GEO
The pre-university education unit can decide, with the consent of the simple majority of the legal representatives/parents, respectively of the adult students and employees of the education unit, to install video and audio cameras in order to ensure the security and protection of people, goods and valuables, as well as for the purpose preventing acts of physical and/or mental violence that may occur in the school space.
In exceptional situations, when there is an increased risk of violence in the school space, with a significant number of notifications regarding the commission of acts of physical and/or mental violence, in order to ensure the security and protection of persons, goods and valuables, as well as in the purpose of preventing acts of physical and/or mental violence, the decision regarding the installation of the surveillance system can only be made with the information of the persons concerned.
The decision to install and/or put the audio-video surveillance systems into operation is taken by the board of directors by decision, approved by the director, for a maximum period of 1 calendar year. The period of 1 calendar year can be extended in the situation where the circumstances that were the basis for taking it are maintained. The audio-video surveillance decision and the decision to extend the audio-video surveillance are made based on the prior consultation of the teaching staff, the auxiliary teaching staff, as well as the administrative staff and with the information of the persons concerned.
Audio-video surveillance systems can be installed in the school space as follows: in classrooms, outside buildings, in hallways, in halls of festivities, in hallways of dormitories or boarding schools, as well as in sports halls, with the exception of locker rooms and health groups.
Educational units have the following obligations:
The educational unit is obliged to respect the processing of personal data, the storage period, as well as their deletion after the storage period expires. Other Responsibilities:
– ensuring the security and confidentiality of audio-video recordings;
– establishing the technical conditions, so that personal data are not disseminated in the public space;
– establishing the conditions under which access to records is achieved;
– informing the persons concerned about the processing of personal data.
– the use of audio-video recordings only for the purpose of investigating cases of physical or mental violence, respectively cases aimed at the protection of assets and values, which occur in the school space;
– the use of cameras or surveillance devices configured with a closed circuit, which do not allow configuration or access from outside the educational unit;
– designation of a person with duties to monitor the operation of the audio-video surveillance system, usually a teacher, as well as a personal data protection officer, usually the deputy director or a member of the board of directors, as the case may be;
– the storage and preservation, in safe and confidential conditions, of audio-video recordings for a period of 30 days, with the exception of thoroughly justified cases when this period is extended, until the completion of the investigations regarding the complaints made, after which this information is deleted automatic;
– the responsibility to ensure the proper functioning of the audio-video surveillance systems and to make the audio-video recordings available to the criminal investigation bodies, if there is a request in this regard.
Educational units with audio-video surveillance system guarantee the confidentiality and privacy of audio-video recordings.
Who will have access to surveillance camera recordings?
Access to audio-video recordings is made on the basis of a written, motivated request, approved by the director of the educational unit, only by viewing them, by the following categories of persons: the parent, the legal representative or the adult student, the staff of the educational unit, DJIP representatives /DMBIP, representatives of the Ministry of Education and representatives of DGASPC, the school psychologist/counselor in the educational unit, with the consent of the parent, legal representative or adult student.
The persons who have access to the audio-video recordings cannot publish these materials and cannot use them as a means to harm the image or the physical or mental integrity of the primary beneficiaries, parents, legal representatives or staff employed in educational institutions.
At the time when she presented the GEO project, Ligia Deca announced that schools will be able to have surveillance systems in classes without the consent of parents or teachers. This contradicted the law as originally adopted, which required the parents’ consent or disapproval of such supervision to be included in the educational contract.
After a first stage of consultations, the Ministry published an updated form of the draft GEO. It stated a “majority agreement of the legal representatives/parents, respectively of the students of age” for the installation of the surveillance systems. Also then, the option of introducing these systems was introduced only with the information of the persons concerned when it comes to “exceptional situations”.
