So What's Up in Lower Merion School District?

Jeffrey Billman at the clog:

Matsko may well be scapegoated here; I don't mean to imply that she did something shady, because I really have no idea what's going on. I mean, seriously: No school official could be cavalier or dumb enough to think they could spy on kids and no one would ever be the wiser, right? I doubt it.  But these stories aren't adding up. If the school district can come out and say that Blake Robbins is lying, why hasn't it done so? In lawsuits, people categorically deny charges all the time; it's not unusual or improper.

My take is that the school district, which is the actual defendant in the case, doesn't know what its employees at Harriton High did or did not do. So the district can't issue an unequivocal denial until it finds out the truth. But the employees in question - like Matsko - are probably lawyering up themselves and trying to keep themselves from being sued or imprisoned (since there may have been multiple felonies committed here). And the school district doesn't want to cut Matsko and friends loose too soon, because (a) that's a tacit admission of culpability that the district will ultimately be financially responsible for and (b) if they ax Matsko and it turns out she's innocent, then she can sue them.  So they wait for discovery to roll out, and see what people say when they're under oath.

My total guess is that Matsko is lying through her teeth in a last-ditch attempt to brazen it out. Her passionate performance reading a prepared statement made me think, "The lady doth protest too much."

Comments

[Matthew G. Saroff]

I would note that here denial is incomplete.

She never denied that she came into possession of such a picture.

So consistent with her denial, someone else, your local sysop/perv could have been breaking the law, who then snapped the pic, and then she:

* Used the photograph in an disciplinary proceeding.

*Was aware that someone was using the camera to spy on students.

*Did not contact authorities, or even higher ups about this

All of the above are consistent with her "categorical denial."

[Matthew G. Saroff]

Forgot to add:

Cops do this all the time: One cop lies to a judge, and then another cop executes the search, and since that cop has "good faith", the evidence is admissable.