Permission would be required to record – visually or audibly – in South Dakota classrooms should a hoghoused bill continue rolling through the legislature.

 

House Bill 1196, which prohibits the unauthorized use of electronic listening or recording devices in classrooms, passed the House Education committee on an 8-6 vote, after being hoghoused to its current form from its previous incarnation as a proposal to lower the compulsory age of attendance.

 

The bill would require an individual to receive prior consent from a classroom teacher and school principal before utilizing a device to visually or audibly record in a classroom.

 

ASBSD supports the bill.

 

“This bill does no harm,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said, adding the bill “adds a dimension” for school districts to protect their students and staff.

 

SASD Executive Director Rob Monson said the bill was aimed “to protect students and teacher in our classrooms.”

 

Monson added that district policy would deal with a student violating the no recording rule, but the added dimension of a criminal penalty – Class 2 Misdemeanor – for non-students in violation “certainly puts more teeth into” the proposal.

 

HB 1196 now moves to the House floor for review.

 

For updates on the bill, check the ASBSD Blog, Twitter feed and Bill Tracker.