ATLANTA — The Georgia General Assembly yesterday gave final passage to House Bill 614, the Landon Dunson Act, sponsored by State Representative Valencia Stovall (D-Lake City). The Landon Dunson Act would install video monitoring equipment in classrooms offering special education services for educational and safety purposes.
“I am overjoyed to have received the strong support of my colleagues in both the House and Senate on this important legislation,” said Rep. Stovall. “The Landon Dunson Act provides an objective eye to educators and our most vulnerable students in an environment where objectivity is required the most, affording our educators and special needs children the safety, protection and access to educational resources that they deserve.”
The Landon Dunson Act would install video monitoring camera equipment in self-contained school classrooms that provide special education services for educational and safety purposes. Participation from local schools would be voluntary and only with the consent of the parents of the children in the classroom, while access to the footage would be strictly limited to school administrators for educational and safety monitoring purposes, as well as parents, law enforcement, and court officials upon subpoena. The Department of Education would have final approval of the local school’s that choose to opt-in to the program, but each individual school would be responsible for providing their own video monitoring equipment. The Landon Dunson Act was originally proposed during the 2015 legislative session in response to concerns of alleged abuse in classrooms that provide special education services.
The Landon Dunson Act will now to go Governor Nathan Deal for consideration.
For more information on the Landon Dunson Act, please click here.
Representative Valencia Stovall represents the citizens of District 74, which includes portions of Clayton County. She was elected into the House of Representatives in 2012, and currently serves on the Code Revision, Education, Interstate Cooperation, and Small Business Development committees.
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