Two Bakersfield parents of nonverbal children are pushing for cameras to be installed in special education classrooms, saying the move would add transparency and protection for students and staff.
Ashley Hopwood started a Change.org petition in January calling for cameras in special education classrooms. “I just think that our children, especially the ones that are nonverbal, like deserve, you know, that extra set of eyes and transparency in case anything did happen in the classrooms,” Hopwood said.
The petition has now received more than 6,000 signatures, along with comments from supporters. “it’s just.. it’s constantly growing, you know. It’s getting signatures daily, whether it be a couple or a couple 100. So it shows that a lot of families are wanting this as well,” Hopwood said.
Hopwood said the effort is not meant as an attack on teachers, but as a way to better protect staff and children who cannot speak up for themselves. “Also, it protects the teachers if there’s any false allegations, if they need to go back and look, you know, for training or ways to handle situations differently. So, I think it’s, you know, protects everybody, the students get on the staff,” she said.
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Hopwood said other parents and former staff members have come forward with concerns similar to hers. With growing support, she said she has sent a request to state lawmakers to discuss a possible bill and has secured one meeting this month. “So we’ll just have to keep contacting our like leaders and see if they are willing to work with us and support a bill on this as well,” she said.
Hopwood has also requested public records from the Bakersfield City School District regarding past incidents that she said allegedly occurred between a teacher and a student at a local elementary school. She said she has received some records but believes more exist than what has been provided.
“So, the reason why I originally requested the public records is because when we were talking to the district about the cameras in classrooms and I stated a fact to them, special education students are three times more likely to be physically, sexually, verbally abused in school setting, they tried to say not within the Bakersfield City School District, or that that was not their statistic, so that’s where the public request records came from,” Hopwood said.
Hopwood said she is seeking “clarity and transparency” and believes the records should be released if children’s names are withheld. “So their public records, there shouldn’t be any reason why they are denied, as long as the children’s names are being withheld,” she said.
Now with many supporters, Hopwood has made a request to speak with assembly members in hopes to create a bill to be voted on. She said she has no plans on stopping and will try to make cameras in self contained classrooms a law.