It seems some parents in the Lower Merion School District aren’t too happy about the class action lawsuit that has been filed over the supposed webcam spying case, and they plan to do something about it.

For the past two weeks I’ve been covering the case against the Lower Merion School District over the situation with the webcams parents had not been notified could spy on their children.  While the class action lawsuit filed by Blake Robbins is still being certified, parents of several hundred students are moving for it to be dismissed due to the costs that will be incurred by the school district, which is funded by their tax dollars.

To this end, the LMSD Parents have set up a Web site for parents to sign a petition to get the suit stopped.  According to Philly.com, the parents held a strategy meeting last night at the Narberth Borough Hall that was open only to parents of students who had been issued a laptop by the school district.

Apparently the parents discussed various ways to block the suit reaching class action lawsuit, and one parent even went so far as to say the Robbins family should just move to another school district.

While I could somewhat see the point of the families, they lost me at the point they refused permission to Mark Haltzman, the attorney for the Robbins family, to attend the meeting to explain their side of the situation.

Why was he denied permission to attend?  Are they not concerned with hearing both sides of the situation?  Mr. Haltzman told the press he wanted to explain how at least an independent party needs to be brought in to investigate to what extent the student’s privacy rights had been violated, but apparently these parents aren’t concerned with this.

As I said, I could see the parent’s side for a bit, but then it became obvious this is a situation of, “Oh, well, it wasn’t my kid, so it doesn’t matter.”  What sort of lesson is this teaching the kids?  ”Oh rights don’t matter so long as it doesn’t impact you.”  I hate to always go back to this famous saying, but …

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

The Lower Merion School District violated the privacy rights of all 2300 students whether every camera was turned on or not.  To say, “they apologized” as one parent did, or suggest this one child and his family should move to another school district doesn’t change the fact this school potentially violated the rights of the children.

Think I’m making too much of a deal out of this?  Then why are both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Montgomery County detectives investigating the situation?  Within 48 hours of the story breaking to the media they began looking into it.  If there wasn’t a possibility of there being problems, they wouldn’t be there.

Perhaps when it comes to the rights of children, parents should think a bit further than their pocketbooks?