Published on April 29th, 2013 | by Sedgrid Lewis
How to Send Your Child to School Wearing A Wire
Stuart Chaifetz, from Cherry Hill, N.J., gained youtube fame by sending his son to school with a wire based upon his belief that teachers were bullying his autistic son. He audio recorded teachers calling his then 10 year old autistic son names such as “a bastard”. Although this may appear to be out of the norm, frequently teachers have been caught verbally abusing non verbal special needs students. According to a 2009 report from the ACLU, Impairing Education:Corporal Punishment of Students with Disabilities, students with disabilities are disproportianetly paddled based upon behaviors resulting from their disabilities.
Parents have responded by wiring their children with spy equipment to protect them. Moms have turned to placing audio recordes on their child’s wheel chairs. Moms are placing audio recorders in their child’s bookbag or placing it in a sweater or jacket to listen to their surroundings. This tatic is starting to literally pay off for families. A Contra Costa family recently received a 950,00 settlement for their 5 year old special needs child being kicked by his teacher multiple times in the classroom.
The next question is whether or not wiretapping your child is leagal. The legality of wiretapping depends on the state you reside. Some states are one party states while other are two party states. One party states only need the consent from one of the parties doing the taping. Two party states require that both parties acknowledging that taping is taking place.
In order to dig deeper into the legalities of wire tapping. We talked with Special Needs Super Attorney Allison Vrolijk
Here is what she reported on wiretapping youth at school:
“With regard to recording conversations, states can be divided into 2 categories — those requiring the consent of only one party to the conversation to record, and those requiring the consent of both parties to the conversation to record. The overwhelming majority of states are one-party state”
“So if your state is a one-party state, what does that mean? That means that IF YOUR CHILD CAN CONSENT TO THE RECORDING, you can LEGALLY send them to school with a recording device on them. The device has to ONLY record conversations to which they are a party. So it can’t be left in a backpack, running, for the entirety of the day, recording conversations that occur while your child is not in the room. It also, arguably, can’t be put on your child without your child’s knowledge or consent. The device must be WITH your child, with your child’s knowledge and consent, to be legal.”
The key to wiretapping is to ensure that you are not recording all day jeopardizing the privacy of other students. Spy Parent recommends three options for recording.
Cell phone Recording- There are cell phone spy apps that will allow a parent to listen in on their child’s environment. You simply download the app to your child’s phone. Once the software is downloaded, apps such as Mobile Steath allows you to call the phone to activate the speaker phone. This option is great if your child can identify the time the bullying is taking place.
Audio recording- Parents can purchase a small audio recorder that can be placed in the child’s pocket. It is key to locate a recorder that is voice activated. Thus only recording the one on one attention from the teacher.
GPS Tracker- GPS allows you to verify the time and location of the bullying. Some GPS trackers like Amber Alert GPS trackers allows parents to listen in on their child’s classroom through the GPS speaker system.
Once you have your recordings it is key to consult with an attorney prior to contacting the school board.
About the Author
Sedgrid Lewis Sedgrid Lewis is the founder of Spy Parent LLC. He is an internationally recognized safety expert specializing in surveillance equipment, internet monitoring software, and mobile applications for parents and child care professionals. Sedgrid has been highlighted in over 20 major publications. Sedgrid has been covered by Fox News, CBS News, NBC News, Readwrite, Gizmodo, and many more. He is a contributor to Your Teen Magazine.
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