Was the laptop school district photo situation just a giant misunderstanding?

How convenient. You’ll recall that we (well, pretty much just me) have been covering the case of the Pennsylvania school district that allegedy took thousands of photos of students with laptops that it gave them. Of course, these photos were taken without any of the students (or their parents) knowing, so it looks pretty bad. Or looked pretty bad? Lawyers hired by the school district have concluded that the school didn’t do anything wrong, and we should all go to Cold Stone and have two scoops of ice scream to celebrate.

The report says all those photos were taken because of

the district’s failure to implement policies, procedures and recordkeeping requirements and the overzealous and questionable use of technology by IS personnel without any apparent regard for privacy considerations or sufficient consultation with administrators

Basically, according to this report, there was no ill intent on the count of the school district, but simply what amounts to a technological glitch.

The main kid featured in the lawsuit is said to have been accused of dealing drugs, but the report says, no, those “pills” were merely Mike & Ike candies. (That part made me laugh.)

In conclusion, while there’s still pending litigation, it does appear that nothing untoward was done on purpose.