Lower Merion School District Explained

Address:	301 East Montgomery Avenue
Zipcode:	19003
Type:	Public
Grades:	K–12
Students:	8,467 (2021–2022)
Teachers:	747.55
Ratio:	11.33

Lower Merion School District, or LMSD, is a public school district located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The school district includes residents of both Lower Merion Township and the Borough 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.^[1]

Schools

High schools

• Lower Merion High School^[2]
• Harriton High School^[3]

Middle schools

• Bala Cynwyd Middle School^[4]
• Welsh Valley Middle School^[5]
• Black Rock Middle School

Elementary schools

• Belmont Hills Elementary School (originally the Ashland Avenue School)^{[6] [7]}
• Gladwyne Elementary School^[8]
• Merion Elementary School^[9]
• Penn Wynne Elementary School.^[10]
• Penn Valley Elementary School^[11]
• Cynwyd Elementary School

Laptop webcams lawsuit

See main article: article and Robbins v. Lower Merion School District. In February 2010, a class action 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.^[12] 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.^{[13] [14]} However, no individuals were found guilty of spying.

See also

• List of school districts in Pennsylvania

Notes and References

1. Web site: Philadelphia Magazine . Phillymag.com . September 21, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080906193147/http://www.phillymag.com/articles/the_top_50_school_districts_2008/ . September 6, 2008 . dead .
2. Web site: Lower Merion High School . LMSD . September 2, 2013.
3. Web site: Harriton High School . LMSD . September 2, 2013.
4. Web site: Bala Cynwyd Middle School . LMSD . September 2, 2013.
5. Web site: Cynwyd Elementary School . LMSD . September 2, 2013.
6. Web site: Belmont Hills Elementary School . LMSD . September 2, 2013.
7. Web site: Belmont Hills Elementary Schools: About Belmont Hills: History . Lower Merion School District . September 2, 2013.
8. Web site: Gladwyne Elementary School . LMSD . September 2, 2013.
9. Web site: Merion Elementary School . LMSD . September 2, 2013.
10. Web site: Penn Wynne Elementary School . LMSD . September 2, 2013.
11. Web site: Welsh Valley Middle School . LMSD . September 2, 2013.
12. Web site: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home. February 17, 2010. Boing Boing. February 18, 2010.
13. News: School district accused of spying on kids via laptop webcams. Doug Stanglin. February 18, 2010. USA Today. February 19, 2010.
14. http://lmsd.org/documents/news/100503_l3_report.pdf "Initial LANrev System Findings"