The audio-video surveillance procedure in schools, in the Official Gazette. The Minister of Education: Schools become safer and by non-entering audio-video monitoring

The Ministry of Education announced on Thursday that the order regarding audio-video supervision in schools was published in the Official Gazette, the act establishing a clear framework for the installation and use of audio-video cameras in order to prevent violence and ensure the protection of students and employees, but also that for audio-video monitoring, the school needs, the students and the employees,

“Our schools become safer also through non-inverted audio-video monitoring. As a minister I have the responsibility that the educational act will be carried out not only efficiently, but also in a context in which all actors feel safe and have a good quality of life,” said the Minister of Education, Daniel David.

He added that, although aggressive behaviors, drug use (and other forbidden substances) and the violations of social norms and the educational process in the country schools are often below the level of other development countries, “their mere existence in our schools is unacceptable.”

What obligations do the schools that install surveillance cameras have

According to the procedure, the audio-video surveillance system is used only for the purpose of ensuring the security and protection of persons, goods and values, as well as for the purpose of preventing the acts of physical and/or mental violence that can occur in the school space.

The decision regarding the installation of an audio-video surveillance system that the schools can take is conditioned by complying with the legal provisions regarding data protection, respectively by assuming the obligation to use audio-video recordings only in order to investigate the cases of violence, physical or mental, respectively of the cases concerning the protection of the goods and values, which occur in the school.

The Ministry of Education emphasizes that schools have the obligation:

• to use the records only for the investigation of cases of violence, respectively of the cases concerning the protection of goods and values;
• not to use the audio-video recordings for the professional evaluation of the teachers or in solving the appeals regarding the evaluation of the students;
• to use only rooms or surveillance devices configured with closed circuit, which do not allow configuration or access from outside the educational unit;
• to designate a person with duties of monitoring the functioning of the audio-video surveillance system, as well as a person responsible for the protection of personal data.

Where video cameras can be put on and who has access to records

Audio-video systems can be installed in the classrooms, outside the buildings, on the halls, in the halls of festivities, on the halls of the homes or the hospitalizations, as well as in the sports halls, except for the changing rooms and the sanitary groups.

The access to the audio-video recordings is made on the basis of a written, motivated request, approved by the director of the educational unit, only by their visualization, by the parent or legal representative of the minor student, the major student or the personnel of the pre-university education unit, representatives of the county school inspectorates/the school inspectorate, of the of social assistance and child protection, the psychologist/school counselor in the pre -university education unit.

The request must also contain the appropriate time period for which access to records is requested.

How to make the decision to monitor video in a school

According to the procedure, in order to make the decision regarding the installation of the audio-video surveillance system, the list of employees, the parents/legal representatives of the minor students, as well as with the major students, is drawn up.

Subsequent to the expression or non-expression of the agreement, a report is drawn up in which the number of persons and the type of votes expressed.

Decision On the installation of an audio-video surveillance system It is taken if there is an agreement of the simple majority of the parents or legal representatives of the minor students, the major students and the employees of the educational unit, who participated in the decision.

• In exceptional situationswhen there is an increased risk of violence in the school space, being registered a significant number of notifications regarding the commission of acts of physical and/or mental violence, the commission of a fact provided by the criminal law, in order to ensure the security and protection of the persons, goods and values, as well as for the purpose of preventing physical and psychic acts. Installation to a supervisory system It can only be carried out with the information of the parents or legal representatives of the students and the employees of the educational unit.

The decision to install and/or commission the audio-video surveillance systems is taken by the Board of Directors for a maximum period of 1 calendar year.

The period of 1 calendar year can be extended, by decision of the Board of Directors, in case the circumstances that were the basis of its taking are maintained, with the application of the provisions of art. 66 para. (2) of Law no. 198/2023, with subsequent modifications and completions.

The decision of audio-video surveillance and the decision to extend the audio-video supervision are taken on the basis of the prior consultation of the teaching staff, the auxiliary teaching staff, as well as of the administrative personnel and with the information of the targeted persons.

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