Two Lower Merion School employees on administrative leave
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Two employees at the center of Lower Merion school district's laptop spying controversy are on paid administrative leave. Two weeks ago, a student and his parents filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging school officials of spying using a school-issued laptop. Whyy's Susan Phillips reports.
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A district spokesman says two employees authorized to activate students' laptop cameras have not worked for the past two weeks. But he says the administrative leave is part of the internal investigation and does not reflect wrongdoing on the part of the workers.
Marc Neff is an attorney for computer technician Michael Perbix. Neff says Perbix was the guy who pushed a button to activate the webcams, but only when his supervisors told him to do so.
Neff: It was not about snooping or spying on anyone, that was not the intention. That's not why the program was designed and that's not why it was used.
District officials admit to remotely activating the webcams but say it was only to find lost or stolen laptops.
The FBI is exploring whether criminal charges could be filed in the case.