Recently, there have been several incidents of vandalism in BPHS. Due to this, the administration has decided to take action.

Bethel Park High School will add five cameras to help with the problem.

“These cameras will be added in ‘problem areas’ in the school,” Dr. J said. “In particular, cameras will be added in the hallways outside the restrooms and in the cafeteria. These cameras are to watch areas more closely so [the school] has closer viewing. 

Just a few weeks ago, a sink in the fourth floor boys bathroom was broken. This was just one instance in a string of destructive occurrences around the school.

“I am not going to speculate who is doing the damage,” Dr. J said. “Some students have individual issues, and they take their problems out on something else.”

All cameras have time stamps on them. Then, when a security guard notices damage in a certain area, they can note when the area was vandalized, look at the cameras, and question anyone who was in that area at that time.

There are currently 145 cameras located around the school.

“This is not everybody; instead, it is only a select few of the student body. It depends on the situation for each student,” Dr. J said.

Students who are caught in the act of damaging school property will have to pay the school for damage and have the incident put on their record.

The question remains, though, why were cameras not put in these areas before?

“Not all the cameras that were scheduled to be built into the school when it was rebuilt were put in,” Dr. J said.

At a board meeting, superintendent assistant Matthew Howard said, “The number of surveillance cameras in the school…was reduced to 145 [from] 190…in an effort to keep the building project under budget.”

Thus, soon enough, more cameras will be watching everybody around school.