Law / United States / 
Texas
Texas video surveillance of special education classrooms and settings: placement, retention and confidentiality of the recordings
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding government bodies.
- Obligation class
- Retention, Security, Prohibition
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- If you are a school district or open-enrollment charter school, on a written request from a parent, board of trustees or governing body, principal or assistant principal, or staff member, provide a video camera, and place, operate and maintain it in the special education classrooms and settings the request covers (Tex. Educ. Code sec. 29.022(a) and (a-1)).
- Before a camera is activated, give written notice of the placement to all school or campus staff and to the parents of each student in the classroom or setting (Tex. Educ. Code sec. 29.022(d)).
- Place cameras that cover all areas of the classroom or setting, including an attached time-out room, and record audio from all areas, but do not visually monitor the inside of a bathroom or an area where a student's clothes are changed, except for incidental coverage of a minor portion (Tex. Educ. Code sec. 29.022(c) and (c-1)).
- Retain the recorded video at least three months after the date it was recorded, and longer while a requested viewing or a documented alleged incident is pending (Tex. Educ. Code sec. 29.022(e) and (e-1)).
- Do not allow regular or continual monitoring of the recordings, and do not use them for teacher evaluation or for any purpose other than the promotion of safety of students receiving special education services (Tex. Educ. Code sec. 29.022(h)).
- Treat a recording as confidential, and release it for viewing only to the people subsection (i) lists, among them an employee or parent involved in a reported alleged incident, Department of Family and Protective Services personnel, a peace officer, school nurse, trained administrator or designated human resources staff member responding to a report or investigation, and agency or State Board for Educator Certification personnel investigating (Tex. Educ. Code sec. 29.022(i)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
What record it asks for
Who may demand the log
Data subject, Regulator
Log retention
Retention runs three months from the date of recording unless a person entitled to view the recording has asked to, in which case it runs until the viewing and any incident determination or resolution (subsection (e-1)).
- Unit
- Months
- As of
- Basis
- Fixed
- Runs from
- From each record's own date
- Conditional
- Yes
- Minimum value
- 3
Logging duty
Section 29.022(e) requires a school district or open-enrollment charter school to retain video recorded in a special education classroom for at least three months, and subsection (e-1) extends the period while a requested viewing or an alleged incident is pending. The recording is the record; the section names no separate log.
- Kind
- Explicit
- As of
- Provision
- Tex. Educ. Code sec. 29.022(e)
- Trigger
- personal_data_processing
What this law does
On receipt of a written request authorized under subsection (a-1), a school district or open-enrollment charter school must provide equipment, including a video camera, to the school or schools specified in the request, and the school or campus must place, operate and maintain one or more video cameras in special education classrooms and other special education settings.
The cameras must be capable of covering all areas of the classroom or setting, including a room used for time-out, and of recording audio from all areas, but the inside of a bathroom or any area in which a student's clothes are changed may not be visually monitored, except for incidental coverage of a minor portion of a bathroom or changing area because of the layout of the classroom or setting.
Before a camera is activated, the school or campus must give written notice of the placement to all school or campus staff and to the parents of each student attending class or engaging in school activities in the classroom or setting. A school district or open-enrollment charter school must retain video recorded from a camera placed under the section for at least three months after the date the video was recorded.
A school district or open-enrollment charter school may not allow regular or continual monitoring of the video or use it for teacher evaluation or for any other purpose than the promotion of safety of students receiving special education services in the classroom or setting. A video recording of a student made according to the section is confidential and may not be released or viewed except as subsection (i), subsection (i-1) or subsection (j) provides. Section 29.022 was added by Acts 2015, 84th Legislature, chapter 1147 (Senate Bill 507), effective .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app serves K-12 schools.
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