Educator Says She Didn't Spy On Students

A Pennsylvania educator named in a webcam spying lawsuit says she never monitored students through webcams or authorized anyone else to do so.

Harriton High School vice principal Lynn Matsko responded to last week's lawsuit through a statement Wednesday. She did not take questions.

A federal lawsuit filed by Blake Robbins, a student at Harriton High School, and his parents, claims the school remotely spied on their son at home through a webcam on a laptop the school had given him.

The suit accuses the school of turning on Blake's webcam while the computer was inside his Penn Valley home, allegedly violating wiretap laws and his right to privacy.

Robbins says that the Lower Merion School District photographed him in his bedroom.

Matsko did not address the lawsuit's accusation that she talked to Robbins about "improper behavior" at home, citing images from his school-issued laptop's camera.

District officials have said they remotely activated webcams to locate 42 missing laptops without notifying students. They insist they never did so to spy on students, as Robbins' family claims in the federal lawsuit. Robbins' lawyers asked again Wednesday for all the photographs and screenshots the district obtained.

Families were not informed of the possibility the webcams might be activated in their homes without their permission in the paperwork students sign when they get the computers, district spokesman Doug Young said last week.

"It's clear what was in place was insufficient, and that's unacceptable," Young said.

The district has suspended the practice amid the lawsuit and the accompanying uproar from students, the community and privacy advocates. District officials hired outside counsel to review the past webcam activations and advise the district on related issues, Young said.