Is this weird? Or am I just out of date?

[ravinlunachick]

Last week, I had a conference with my ds's (public school, special ed) teacher. She mentioned something funny that he'd done, and showed me a picture of it on the class iPad. She had made lots of photos of the kids on the iPad, as I saw when she was scrolling through to find his. No biggie--I signed a media consent at the beginning of the year that allows his photo to be made for education-related purposes. Then, she remembered something else, and said, "Oh, that picture is on my phone!"

 

She showed me the picture, and I could see that, like the iPad, she had many photos of the kids, as well as several silly ones of my ds. She never offered to email it to me or anything, and at the time, I didn't think to suggest it. Afterwards, I felt a little odd that she'd have pictures of my kid on her personal phone. I don't feel like complaining or doing anything about it right now, but I want to know if maybe I have no reason to feel strange about it.

 

When I was teaching, I made lots of pictures of my students, but never on my personal camera, and cameraphones weren't ubiquitous back then.

 

Have the times just changed? Would you feel strange about a teacher having her own pics of your child?

[kitten18]

I don't think it's odd. It's very likely that she has her phone with her at all times and it's the most handy for taking pictures.

 

Maybe she will do something fun with the pictures at the end of the year.

[ravinlunachick]

I suppose I'm made nervous not by the idea that SHE would do anything untoward with them, but people lose their phones all the time. Add to that the fact that these are special-ed kids (so some disabilities are visually obvious) and the way anyone can throw up a picture online and have it turn into a viral meme, and you see why it makes me feel uncomfortable.

 

Perhaps that's just a risk everyone takes by living in the digital age. I don't know.

[Tammyla]

I wouldn't consider a personal phone part of parental consent, and it would make me uneasy. I think I'd have to discuss this with the teacher or principle. Now of course, I'm probable out of date and behind the times, but personal and professional should be separate imo.

[Matryoshka]

My mom was a teacher for years, and is also a big photo nut, and she used to take at least a few rolls of film of her kids each year. She has a bunch in an album at home.

 

That, of course, was well before the digital age. It was her camera, but there was really no sharing or anything.

 

My guess is that the teacher is thinking of her phone as just another, and probably the most convenient, way of taking pictures. It does "feel" different on a personal phone, though, with the easy sharing now available. Although it's probably just as easy to share from an iPad or even many digital camera these days. I doubt the teacher really thought it through, to differentiate between taking a picture with her phone vs. the iPad. Couldn't hurt to point it out to her.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I'm a techy, a geek, and a social media addict. With that out of the way, there's really no difference between her using her own iPhone, the school iPad, a standard digital camera, or even an extinct Polaroid camera, athough the Polaroid would make sharing a tad harder. You signed a waiver, that's the end of the discussion. She's allowed to take pictures.

 

Now my issue is not the fact that she's using her iPhone, but that the waiver states it's for educational pictures,. I'm not sure the silly photos are covered. She should limit herself to actual educational pictures.

[LostSurprise]

I'm not sure where you live, but this may depend on school budgets.

 

I live in rural Wisconsin. The school does not own its own camera. Its not unusual for teachers to take pictures on their own camera or phone and have it processed and then delete. Teachers who are particularly thoughtful may have a school-only memory card.

 

It doesn't bother me because the photos are very general (only rarely, like for beginning of the year projects @ themselves are there photos focusing on 1 child) and they are only taken during a few projects a year. They've never had a problem.

 

How about parent volunteers? Often they take photos without asking permission...and not just their own children. How about school programs?

 

I guess I see the camera as ubiquitous in public. Everything is recorded. I watch for unwanted attention, not photos.

[ravinlunachick]

 

 

How about parent volunteers? Often they take photos without asking permission...and not just their own children. How about school programs?

 

I guess I see the camera as ubiquitous in public. Everything is recorded. I watch for unwanted attention, not photos.

 

 

 

Those are good points. In fact, there's a high schooler who comes in once a week to volunteer. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd made pictures on a phone.

 

I guess I need to just get over it. I'm just afraid of stumbling upon my sweet little guy's face on some nasty meme somewhere. :bored:

[Kathryn]

It would bother me, but that's because of an experience I've had (which my husband was not bothered by). A few years ago at Vacation Bible School, we'd signed a release form that stated pictures would be taken for church use. They were posted on the church's private Facebook page. Then, when I was on the page looking at them, I noticed one of the "friends" of the church was a teenage VBS volunteer whose profile picture was her with my son. I was upset enough already, but was even more so when I clicked on it and the description and comments were all her talking about how awful my son was.

[runbikeswim]

Generational. Camera pics are just the norm. Cute momemt...whip out the phone.

[sassenach]

My son's teachers take photos on their phones. It doesn't bother me and I think it's fairly common. I guess I feel like if I trust them enough to care for my kid 6 hours a day, why wouldn't I trust them enough to take pictures?

[briansmama]

I don't think you are over-thinking this at all. I ask that no one post pictures of my dc on Facebook without my consent and my sister will not allow anyone to post pictures of her dc on FB at all for any reason.

 

It sounds like your instinct is that the teacher has good, harmless intentions, but not everyone shares the same views on posting pictures to other sites like FB and Instagram and other sites, like blogs. I try to be sensitive of other parents' wishes when I ever take a group picture of my dc and their friends by asking first if it's ok and clarifying that I will not be posting the pictures to FB or similar.

 

I'd have a conversation with the teacher, and tell her that you noticed pictures of your child on her personal phone and let her know that you ask all friends and family not to post pictures of your child to other sites. I'd also ask her if she has security measures on her phone- a password in case it gets lost or stolen, etc.

[ChristineW]

I don't know about personal phones, but DS' teacher updates the class website weekly and there are always new photos of the kids showing what they worked on that week. Some of the pictures are silly, fun photos too.

 

Christine

[2_girls_mommy]

I had never really thought about this question. I teach girl scouts and co-op classes. I pull out my digital camera and take pictures. Some for my personal rememberance of a project or beginning or ending of the year. Sometimes I print them out for the kids to use in a project in class like Christmas ornaments they take home to mom and dad. I have NEVER posted them online somewhere unless I was emailing them to the parent. I just don't post pics any pics online anywhere of my kids even, so I hadn't done others.

 

BUT others take pics at VBS and other places and post those. I have never been asked to sign a waiver or anything. It just hadn't occurred to me to think about it. I figure it is pretty rare. But now you got me at least thinking about something. I will have to digest this before I can decide what I think about it now.... I will also consider talking to parents in my care at my house, in co-op, or with scouts before I take pictures anymore. That is probably the most important thing I got out of this discussion. Thank you for that.

[gardenmom5]

my phone is usually with me - my camera is not. so it's easier to take pictures with the phone.

[Parrothead]

I think it is weird. I'm not sure why teachers would be taking photos of children in the first place. Maybe if it were for a specific project and the photos sent home with the children. But not to keep on the phone indefinitely.

[Trish]

First of all I think this discussion would have a different tone if the teacher were male. Secondly, I know I read a story this past fall about how anyone who puts se*xting pictures on their phone for private use/sharing, should think twice about that, because those photos are often stolen, and make their way to some very public websites. This has ruined some people's lives. Okay I realize this thread is not about THAT issue, but I'm just mentioning it due to the "stolen" part -- apparently it's more difficult to keep things private than people know. Third, there is this story about a teacher taking pictures of kids in the classroom and uploading them to a bad website.

 

Teacher Allegedly Posts Pics of Kids on Creepshot Website

 

So the points I would make are: maybe you trust your kid's CURRENT teacher, but if you've signed a "photo release" does that also apply to any substitute? Or volunteer? (Before homeschooling I volunteered a lot at my kids' school and took TONS of pictures. But never on a phone, and never uploaded to anywhere.) And I don't know that it's a good thing to just say, well, this is ubiquitous we can't do anything about it. I think there should be guidelines -- I think taking on a digital camera is fine, NOT to be uploaded without parental permission. Taking on a phone, no I wouldn't go for that.

 

Just some thoughts.

[In the Rain]

I think it is weird. I'm not sure why teachers would be taking photos of children in the first place. Maybe if it were for a specific project and the photos sent home with the children. But not to keep on the phone indefinitely.

 

 

I taught special ed in a ps before having kids. I took pictures of my students occasionally. I helped each student make a "class yearbook", and I probably made some scrapbook pages for myself. It never seemed weird to me. When you are with people that many hours a week, week after week, you develop a relationship with them. Kids are fun and funny. I guess I wanted to capture some fun moments and remember them.

 

I am okay with the leaders and teachers of my kids' various groups taking pictures of my kids, although I wouldn't want them posted. As long as the pictures were good, or cute, or silly in a good way, I'd just assume the teacher liked my child. :-)

[athena1277]

I have friends who are ps teachers and I know they sometimes take pics of their students. It's often pics of special activities and for themselves (and maybe the students) to remember them. On a few occasions they have posted pics on FB, but are always very careful not to show faces (or show faces so far in the distance you can't make them out. As long as that's all she is doing with it, that's fine. However, I would talk with her to be sure she will not use them in an inappropriate way.

[Scarlett]

Last week, I had a conference with my ds's (public school, special ed) teacher. She mentioned something funny that he'd done, and showed me a picture of it on the class iPad. She had made lots of photos of the kids on the iPad, as I saw when she was scrolling through to find his. No biggie--I signed a media consent at the beginning of the year that allows his photo to be made for education-related purposes. Then, she remembered something else, and said, "Oh, that picture is on my phone!"

 

She showed me the picture, and I could see that, like the iPad, she had many photos of the kids, as well as several silly ones of my ds. She never offered to email it to me or anything, and at the time, I didn't think to suggest it. Afterwards, I felt a little odd that she'd have pictures of my kid on her personal phone. I don't feel like complaining or doing anything about it right now, but I want to know if maybe I have no reason to feel strange about it.

 

When I was teaching, I made lots of pictures of my students, but never on my personal camera, and cameraphones weren't ubiquitous back then.

 

Have the times just changed? Would you feel strange about a teacher having her own pics of your child?

 

Wouldn't bother me at all.

[Renthead Mommy]

A lot of people don't even have devices that are "only" cameras anymore. And as phone cameras get better and better fewer people will bother to carry a phone and camera.

 

I think the other thing we need to remember is digital photos people think of as 'free' photos. When you had to first buy film, and then pay to have it developed, people took fewer pictures. They were more conservative with their film. I remember the excitement of picking up developed pictures from the little booth in the middle of the parking lot. You could easily have Christmas photos and easter photos on the same roll. Can you imagine only taking 24 photos in the four month spread now? But I think that is why there are a lot more teachers taking a lot more photos than any of us remember.

 

So no I don't consider it weird that she took pictures, or has them in two different locations.

[MomtoCandJ]

Dd's Headstart only allows pictures to be taken by the teacher (and the teacher can only use them for classroom purposes). Even first day of school pics can be only of your child unless you have explicit permission of another child's parent. Oh and no video recording either

[RanchGirl]

It would not bother me, especially since you signed a media consent. But I would ask for her to email me copies so I could put them in the kids' books; how fun for them to look back at those pics years from now!

[FeFe]

Generational. Camera pics are just the norm. Cute momemt...whip out the phone.

 

 

 

And so much easier on a phone than an iPad.

 

OP - I understand your point. Though most people would never think of doing anything inappropriate or hurtful, some would. I just don't know how you control it in this digital world. Everyone had devices and everyone is snapping photos. Though I've largely avoided the news and social media the past week, I have still stumbled upon a couple of meme's of the tragedy. The intent was good, reminding people to pray but I wouldn't want a photo of me enduring the most horrible seconds of my life circuiting the internet for all time for all to see.I wish there were a way to control it.

[TranquilMind]

Last week, I had a conference with my ds's (public school, special ed) teacher. She mentioned something funny that he'd done, and showed me a picture of it on the class iPad. She had made lots of photos of the kids on the iPad, as I saw when she was scrolling through to find his. No biggie--I signed a media consent at the beginning of the year that allows his photo to be made for education-related purposes. Then, she remembered something else, and said, "Oh, that picture is on my phone!"

 

She showed me the picture, and I could see that, like the iPad, she had many photos of the kids, as well as several silly ones of my ds. She never offered to email it to me or anything, and at the time, I didn't think to suggest it. Afterwards, I felt a little odd that she'd have pictures of my kid on her personal phone. I don't feel like complaining or doing anything about it right now, but I want to know if maybe I have no reason to feel strange about it.

 

When I was teaching, I made lots of pictures of my students, but never on my personal camera, and cameraphones weren't ubiquitous back then.

 

Have the times just changed? Would you feel strange about a teacher having her own pics of your child?

 

 

I wouldn't like it, but then I'm pretty rigid about preserving privacy.

 

I would email her and ask her to send the photos to you. Why shouldn't you have them?

[TranquilMind]

It would bother me, but that's because of an experience I've had (which my husband was not bothered by). A few years ago at Vacation Bible School, we'd signed a release form that stated pictures would be taken for church use. They were posted on the church's private Facebook page. Then, when I was on the page looking at them, I noticed one of the "friends" of the church was a teenage VBS volunteer whose profile picture was her with my son. I was upset enough already, but was even more so when I clicked on it and the description and comments were all her talking about how awful my son was.

 

 

Eww. I'd be livid.

 

Did you address her? Just curious.

[TranquilMind]

I'm a techy, a geek, and a social media addict. With that out of the way, there's really no difference between her using her own iPhone, the school iPad, a standard digital camera, or even an extinct Polaroid camera, athough the Polaroid would make sharing a tad harder. You signed a waiver, that's the end of the discussion. She's allowed to take pictures.

 

Now my issue is not the fact that she's using her iPhone, but that the waiver states it's for educational pictures,. I'm not sure the silly photos are covered. She should limit herself to actual educational pictures.

 

 

 

It definitely depends upon the wording of the waiver.

 

I signed a very limited waiver when my daughter was in school, and the photos could only be used in school brochures and advertising, as I recall. No way could teachers just take photos and keep them. If they did, they were not permitted to do so by the waiver which was very restrictive.

 

When a news station wanted to go in and take video, they had to get our permission again.

[Kathryn]

 

 

Eww. I'd be livid.

 

Did you address her? Just curious.

 

I really wanted to, but DH thought I'd look crazy, so I didn't. I wish I had.

[TranquilMind]

I really wanted to, but DH thought I'd look crazy, so I didn't. I wish I had.

 

I wish you would have too. That could stop her from doing it to other kids. What a jerkish thing for her to do.

[Sharon37127]

I remember it was a big thing when the PTO bought 2 digital cameras PER GRADE at our PS (years ago). So, I would assume this is just another way for teachers to be able to do normal teacher things (like preserving the memories of activities and such) without having proper resources in the classroom (like a digital camera strictly for 1 teacher to use that is only used at school).

[Reya]

She's not going to get a camera from the school, so no, I don't think it's weird.

[Reeciecup]

I have tons of pics of my Girl Scouts on my phone. It's just the most convenient camera I have. I don't share all those pics with the parents, because I just never thought about it. I think a lot of those girls, and I want to remember them.

[Tap]

It is VERY inappropriate to me. The school consent, is intended for school cameras and equipment. Not personal computers, phones or cameras. If she gets fired and leaves with her phone, she is taking all of those pictures with her. Any picture that she has downloaded at home....is now hers to do with, whatever she wants. EVery one of those photos now belong to her. What if she is posting pictures on her private facebook page? or emailing them to other people?

 

There are some very creepy people out there and honestly you just never know who will do what with those photos. I would talk to the principal about it, and if you were not shown evidence that the photos are deleted, then I would file a complaint. If it is not a rule in your school district at this time, I would start finding out how to make it one.

 

Yes, it is a convenient way to snap pictures, but it is inappropriate to me to use personal media devices to do so.

 

 

ETA: in my area, I have the right as a parent to view any documentation regarding my child within the public school disctrict. If these are stored on personal phone, how can I do that? By allowing them to leave the school, they are in direct violation of this rule.

[AimeeM]

I think it's sweet that she cares so much for her students, she wants to capture their silly, sweet moments.

[Spy Car]

Oops...confused scenarios.

 

Teachers taking pictures of students on a personal camera is quite normal.

 

Bill

[Murphy101]

I NEVER sign those waivers giving consent. Ever.

 

I would not take pictures of other people's kids without permission. I appreciate the same curtesy.

 

I think a teacher taking pictures of her kids for her private enjoyment is as weird as if my dh went to work and started taking pictures of his coworkers doing whatever he thought was cute or funny or whatever. It's work, not a family over for Sunday dinner. Taking pictures of the people you work with is usually considered rather odd unless you work in a film environment of some sort.

 

So yeah. Ick. At best, id feel she was unprofessional. *shrugs*

 

And again, I have never once signed consent for photos of my kids. Ever. Or myself for that matter. And I have always been that way. If my teacher had been taking pictures of me, I'd have avoided her like the plague. LOL

[sparrow]

I have pictures on my phone of my Girl Scout troop. I don't typically take my camera to meetings.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

Bill is correct.

[somo_chickenlady]

I have worked in childcare for upwards of 20 years, and I have taken TONS of pictures of children I have cared for with my personal camera or phone...BUT, I will not share those pictures with the public, period. I'm weird like that, though. Even on Pinterest, I will not repin a picture that has a child in it. While working in childcare, I have taken a ton of picture of the kids I have cared for, just for me to look at so that I can remember that child and my experience at the time, but I would never share them.