Camera in Everett classroom sparks call for hearing

EVERETT — Teachers are furious over the secret taping by the Everett School District last year of a Cascade High School teacher and her classroom, a union president said Tuesday.

The Everett Education Association plans to file a claim that the district violated labor practices and employees’ rights when it used a surveillance camera to tape English and journalism teacher Kay Powers.

The recordings are now missing.

“As it was put to me, an extremely bad comedy,” said Kim Mead, president of the 1,200-member union.

The union will ask a state commission to hold an open hearing to learn more about how the district used the video camera to monitor Powers’ classroom.

District Superintendent Carol Whitehead revealed Friday in a two-page letter to district employees that the district used a video camera to record Powers’ classroom between May 10 and June 11 last year. A district lawyer just last month denied a surveillance camera was used.

Whitehead said in an interview Friday that she was not aware of any videotaping.

At a school board meeting Tuesday evening, Whitehead read a statement explaining the decision to install the surveillance camera.

“After consulting with me, Deputy Superintendent Karst Brandsma authorized the video,” she said.

It was done to determine who was entering and leaving the classroom on weekends, she said, adding that it is the 18,500-student district’s “paramount duty to protect students,” Whitehead said.

“I don’t believe we have violated any laws,” she said.

Board members did not comment on Whitehead’s statement at the meeting and declined comment afterward.

Brandsma will not face disciplinary action, district officials said Tuesday.

“We have no reason to believe discipline of any administrator is appropriate,” district spokeswoman Mary Waggoner said.

Powers was placed on leave in June and fired in November for helping students publish an underground newspaper despite a warning not to do so. She was reinstated in April to a teaching post at Henry M. Jackson High School after reaching a settlement with the district.

In her letter to staff, Whitehead outlined several reasons for firing Powers, saying the teacher spent hours alone with a student producing an underground newspaper, violating curfew and district driving rules.

Powers misused school computers, equipment and software and allowed a student to skip classes to work on nonschool projects, Whitehead wrote. Powers and the students knew their “own behaviors were hush, hush,” she said.

Mitch Cogdill, a lawyer for the teachers union, said that had the case gone to hearing, the district would not have been able to prove those allegations.

“If all this is true, why did she hire (Powers) back?” Cogdill asked. “Isn’t she being negligent in doing so if it’s true?”

Teachers union leaders voted Tuesday to file the unfair labor practices complaint with the Public Employees Relations Commission in Olympia.

District officials said they had no comment Tuesday about the union’s move.

“Discussions of what is and is not a matter for the bargaining table will take place at the table, in good faith, with our employee groups,” Waggoner said.

School officials defended the practice of using video cameras, which are commonly used in hallways and parking lots.

“Video cameras are used as needed to ensure the safety of students, staff or public policy,” Waggoner said. “The public expects that when we have information causing us to believe that students are being harmed or that adults or property are in danger, we will investigate and take protective measures. Video cameras are throughout the district, including as you walk through the front door of this office.”

The district has not released yet how much it paid the vendor in taxpayer money for installing the camera in Powers’ classroom. The district did decide it needed to change the way it conducts video surveillance.

Earlier this month, the district administration wrote a one-page paper outlining the process for installing and using video camera equipment on school property.

It requires requests be made in writing and that they outline why the equipment is needed, how long it will be used and the name, title and signature of who makes the request.

The administrative procedure allows for installation of video equipment in areas “where there is not a reasonable expectation of privacy.” Areas they will be used in include parking lots, entrances, hallways, front offices, gyms, cafeterias and libraries “and other public, shared or common spaces.”

The policy does not mention classrooms.

After the union last month accused the district of secretly taping Powers, Whitehead hired a Seattle lawyer to independently investigate what the district did.

Mike Patterson, the investigator, said he found “no evidence that any audio recordings were made of Kay Powers,” according to Whitehead’s letter. It’s illegal in Washington to make an audio recording of an individual without prior consent. The district has not yet received his bill.

The fact that there is no tape available raises concerns, Cogdill said.

“They did not say there was no audio recording,” Cogdill said. “They said there was no evidence of audio recording. Of course not, if you have no tape.”

Reporter Bill Sheets contributed to this story.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Lynnwood
Crash in Lynnwood blocks Highway 99 south

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, fully blocked southbound lanes. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.