Posted on: Friday, December 7, 2001

Video cameras to halt food fights at school

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer

HAWAI'I KAI — Kaiser High School will install video cameras in its cafeteria to deter food fights, becoming just the second public school in the state to use cameras to monitor students.

Safety concerns emerged following four significant food fights this past school year involving students who threw or were hit by not just small, harmless items but full containers of milk, soup or chili, said Ronald Sismar, the school's safety manager.

"It's a sad statement," said Kaiser principal Gail Sugita. "The cameras were a solution, a remedy, so we can pinpoint the specific perpetrators. We hope the cameras will be a sufficient deterrent."

The use of cameras is proliferating across Hawai'i and the nation as a way to improve security and monitor everything from private buildings to public roadways. And while the state Department of Education does not have plans to install cameras at other campuses, the department's safety and security specialist would like to see them in all schools.

"It's a move we're looking at as a way to supervise the campuses," said Rodney Goo, DOE safety and security specialist. "You can have more of a handle on your campus by having cameras looking at the trouble areas."

While many people approve of Kaiser's decision, others say cameras are eroding privacy rights. On O'ahu alone, there are cameras on stoplights, in Waikiki, in Chinatown, in schools and soon in select city beach parks, said Brent White, ACLU legal director.

"I think cameras in schools are a bad idea," White said. "It has a Big Brother feeling. Pretty soon the only place you'll be free from cameras is in the privacy of your own home. That's not the kind of community we want to live in."

But proponents argue that the cameras will serve as extra eyes for adult supervisors who cannot be everywhere at once.

At Kaiser, about 1,100 students go to lunch at one time. Five adults patrol the cafeteria, but can't watch all the students coming and going, said Sismar.

So far this school year there have not been any food fights, Sismar said. But the school is still moving forward with the cameras, which were donated by Costco.

Christina Solomana, a senior at Kaiser, said the cameras are a good idea.

"I don't eat in the cafeteria anymore because of the food fights," she said.

The cameras, which will be monitored by the school's security staff, are endorsed by Kaiser's school/community-based management group and by its Parent Teacher Student Association, said Kelly Washino, PTSA president.

"The cameras are designed to catch the culprits in the act," Washino said. "It's pretty disrespectful to throw food at each other. You'd think at this age, they wouldn't do things like this. I think the cameras are a really good idea."

Farrington High School, which has about 2,500 students, has had cameras all over the campus for several years, said Steven Ho, a retired police officer and chief of school security. There are cameras in the hallways, stairways, walkways, inside and outside the building.

Recently school officials caught a bunch of students smoking on campus and marking the walls with marking pens, Ho said. They had forgotten about the cameras recording them. Ho and others were able to clearly identify the students off the videotape and suspended the students.

"I cannot say how many cameras we have because it's confidential," Ho said. "But they've been there so long that the kids think they don't work. But we run the cameras 24 hours a day."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.