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Students and teachers react to this semester’s ‘camera on’ policy for Zoom classes.

by yasmeen saadi

Student faces replaced black boxes in many classes this semester as the Blue Valley school district moved to mandate turning on Zoom cameras.

In an email sent to students on Jan. 13 announcing the new policy, BVN administration explained that the expectation would “[assist] with engagement, [monitor] students as learners, [benefit] student-to-teacher connections, and [create] ease and increased accuracy when it comes to taking attendance.”

From an Instagram poll of 191 BVN students, 86 percent believed the mandate was not a good idea, for reasons such as privacy, living conditions, distractions and general insecurities. Sophomore Trichelle Mpofu disagreed with the mandate because having her camera on added distractions.

Mpofu said she often fixated on herself when her camera is on, instead of paying attention to class, because she felt like everyone was looking at her.

Although she did not have problems with Zoom first semester, Mpofu was aware that other students left and did other activities while cameras were off.

“I think that a lot of the kids that turn their cameras off and leave, it’s just because the class isn’t engaging,” Mpofu said. “... A lot of the time when it’s just my Zoom classes, we either watch a long video that’s outdated or do a lot of stuff that’s not fun at all. And especially because we’re on Zoom this semester, it’s making it a lot harder for kids to learn.”

Senior Mihir Sunkara has also felt the added difficulty of learning this year. However, his main reason for disliking the mandate was due to privacy concerns, for example students who might work in their living rooms and have other family members in the background. He said he felt there could be better ways to make sure students focus in class without impeding on convenience or privacy.

For him personally, the mandate has not been a problem, but because he thinks it could become a problem for other students, he does not believe it should have become mandatory.

“I have my own room and everything’s fine, but I know there are a few people who just, the very thought of having 15-30 people depending on the situation, looking at them through a camera within their own home is very different,” Sunkara said.

On the other hand, senior Hannah Smuckler was part of the 14 percent of students polled who agreed with the necessity of the mandate. Although Smuckler personally does not like turning on her camera, she said it was better for engagement and connectivity.

“When you were [on Zoom] it was fine, but when you were in person and you saw the other side of it, it made me sad seeing the teacher look over to the class at home and it was just a blank screen,” Smuckler said. “... They can’t be in control of the class when everyone has their video off. And obviously that’s their job, to make sure everyone is getting an education.”

This semester, Smuckler has been trying to be more engaged and present in her Zoom classes by speaking during class discussions and paying attention to class lessons, especially because she empathizes with the teachers.

“I’m sure it’s devastating for them because they’re trying so hard and they weren’t planning on being a remote teacher ever,” Smuckler said. “... I know so much for teachers is about the connection they make with the students, and that’s probably so much harder now.

In direct contrast to the student poll, a survey of 44 teachers showed that 86.4 percent were in favor of mandating Zoom cameras and 13.6 percent were not in favor.

History and Economics teacher Elizabeth Cornell was in favor of the mandate because of the positive effect it had on her teaching and interactions with students.

“I didn’t even like to ask them [questions] when they were black screens, because I felt like I was just sitting there and I had no idea if anyone was on the other end,” Cornell said. “I asked for feedback at the end of the semester and I had a couple students say that I talked really fast. And I think that’s because I didn’t feel any engagement, so I was just like, ‘Alright let’s cross this off my list.’”

Although for most students Cornell enforces the ‘cameras on’ policy, she also recognizes that students may feel uncomfortable and encourages her students to talk to her if they want to create a specific plan for their learning.

On the other hand, librarian and virtual education teacher Abby Cornelius is strongly against the mandate and believes student comfort should come first. During her classes, she has seen other family members in the background of Zooms and even decor and items in a student’s room affecting student comfort.

Cornelius is part of a teachers advisory group with the superintendent where she and other teachers have quarterly meetings to discuss various topics, one of which included the “cameras on” policy.

“The teachers were saying, ‘It’s just so sad and depressing to teach to all those black boxes,’ and I was like, ‘Well, yeah, but everything’s kind of sad and depressing right now. And if there’s a poop sandwich to eat, the adults eat the poop sandwich,’” Cornelius said. “We teach to the black boxes, so the kids don’t have to eat the poop sandwich of showing their camera if it makes them uncomfortable. But we’ve ignored that and we’re doing the thing that makes us comfortable at the expense of children.”

Cornelius teaches virtual classes and said she has not experienced difficulties teaching to students with cameras off. She said she found teaching on Zoom to be more engaging at times because students who would not normally speak up in class use the chat feature to participate.

Rather than creating a policy for cameras to be on, Cornelius said the district could have improved student engagement by showing teachers how to lead discussions or make use of certain Zoom features. Because she does not believe the mandate is accepting of all students, Cornelius does not enforce it within her classes.

“One of the district initiatives that we’re moving towards is to really think about and improve diversity, equity and inclusion and that’s like a catchphrase. That’s a catchphrase for the country, that’s a catchphrase for the district,” Cornelius said. “So if we’re going to do that, ‘camera on’ is not good evidence that that’s what we’re doing.”

Although she does not think any class would need to require cameras to be on, Cornelius acknowledged that many performing arts classes would be difficult to teach over Zoom.

This difficulty is something band teacher Dan Freeman learned to overcome. Freeman said it is important for cameras to be on to make sure students are actually playing and following along with the music. However, for individual cases and circumstances, he is flexible.

“When their videos are muted, we have no idea, and I’d say it’s at best a 50/50 chance that a kid was actually doing what they were supposed to be doing,” Freeman said.

For Freeman, teaching is supposed to be interactive and with school online for most of this year, he found it difficult to maintain that level of interaction and connection.

While he is a fan of ‘cameras on’ as a teacher, Freeman understands that students feel differently and hopes students understand that having cameras on helps the class overall in helping teachers “sense the room.”

“If we’re just going to be pounding our head against the wall, doing something that’s not getting us any return in a class, we should stop doing it and try something different,” Freeman said. “And that’s easy to do in person. It’s hard to do over Zoom, but it’s at least somewhat possible when we can see the students. It is impossible when we can’t.”

Katie Collier, Deputy Superintendent of Academic Services, said a concern for student safety and well-being led to the policy of ‘cameras on.’ After looking at other districts’ policies, both in Kansas and across other states, the district decided the mandate would be most effective.

“We have been concerned, and we’ve had many reports from teachers and administrators concerned about our students’ social and emotional needs,” Collier said. “And one way of monitoring students’ social and emotional needs is to be able to physically check in on our students, so the use of the Zoom camera allows us to see our students and be able to see how they’re doing.”

Collier said the district does not enforce repercussions for cameras being turned off, however a “proactive step” for teachers is to contact parents and make sure the student is okay.

In the beginning, Collier said the district had mixed responses to the mandate, but through allowing flexibility and understanding, her office has not received many complaints or concerns.

“It truly was out of a desire to make sure our students were safe and to better monitor student learning,” Collier said.

Starting March 23, the district moved from hybrid back to in person, so many students and teachers will not face the same difficulties of managing Zoom. But for virtual students, Zoom will continue — and so will the ‘cameras on’ policy.