Lower Merion School District, or LMSD, is a

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

district located in

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the 73rd-most populous county in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 856,55 ...

, United States. The

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

includes residents of both

Lower Merion Township Lower Merion Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Philadelphia Main Line. The township's name originates with the county of Merioneth in north Wales. Merioneth is an English-language transcription of the W ...

and the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

of Narberth. Established in 1836, LMSD is one of the oldest districts in Pennsylvania. It is the wealthiest school district in the state, and one of the wealthiest school districts in the country.

Schools administered

Lower Merion High School Lower Merion High School is a public high school in Ardmore, a community in Philadelphia's Main Line suburbs. It is one of two high schools in the Lower Merion School District; the other one is Harriton High School. Lower Merion serves both Lowe ...

Harriton High School Harriton High School is a public secondary school serving portions of Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. The school is located on the Philadelphia Main Line. Harriton is one of two high schools in the Lower Merion School District; the other is ...

Bala Cynwyd Middle School Bala Cynwyd Junior High School Complex, is a historic school complex in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, Bala Cynwyd, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The complex includes th ...

* Welsh Valley Middle School * Belmont Hills Elementary School (originally the Ashland Avenue School) * Black Rock Middle School * Cynwyd Elementary School * Gladwyne Elementary School * Merion Elementary School, the site of the April 4, 1991, plane crash that killed Republican U.S. Senator

John Heinz Henry John Heinz III (October 23, 1938 – April 4, 1991) was an American businessman and Republican politician from Pennsylvania. Heinz represented the Pittsburgh suburbs in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 and ...

. The plane crash also took the lives of six others, including two first grade students playing at recess. Merion Elementary School

* Penn Wynne Elementary School, the elementary school that Alex Scott attended.

Laptop webcams lawsuit

In February 2010, a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuit was filed against the school district, alleging that Harriton High School had been secretly using remotely activated webcams built into laptops issued to their students to spy on the students in their homes, thereby infringing on their privacy rights. The webcam picture-snapping function was part of an anti-theft mechanism to help locate laptops that were reported by students as stolen. This function was activated by the school district on numerous occasions without adherence to the established guidelines. The lawsuit was filed by the parents of a student who had been warned by Lindy Matsko, an assistant principal, that he had been engaging in "improper behavior" in his bedroom. The schools admitted to snapping over 66,000 pictures and screenshots, including webcam shots of students in their bedrooms."Initial LANrev System Findings"
, LMSD Redacted Forensic Analysis, L-3 Services – prepared for

Ballard Spahr Ballard Spahr LLP is an AmLaw 100 law firm practicing throughout the United States. Founded in 1885, the law firm focuses on litigation, securities and regulatory enforcement, business and finance, intellectual property, public finance, and rea ...

(LMSD's counsel), May 2010. Retrieved August 15, 2010. However, no individuals were found guilty of spying.

References

External links

*
Community Site with information on LMSD budget issues

LMSD Science and Technology Education Department

LMSD Technology Education recent news site
{{Montgomery County, Pennsylvania School Districts Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1836 School districts in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania 1836 establishments in Pennsylvania

Schools administered

Laptop webcams lawsuit

See also

References

External links