High School Teacher David Lista Films Girls' Restroom

How Should Schools Respond?

High school teacher David Lista is on administrative leave after confessing to filming female students in the high school restroom, according to an InsideBayArea.com report. Lista, who teaches English at Mills High School in Millbrae, California, aroused suspicion after a school employee found footage of the girls' bathroom on the school server.

Sgt. John Aronis, in an article by the Palo Alto Daily News, says that he accessed the restroom by breaking out a small piece of the false ceiling and planting a camera inside the hole that was created. Police searched Lista's home and arrested the man for methamphetamine possession, and later released him on $10,000 bail.

School officials say that Lista will be on leave until the investigation is completed, and a court date is set for April 8th. Lista has been involved in another situation before, after posting videos of under-age bikini-clad girls on his YouTube account, students say. School officials declined to comment on such an allegation.

Is privacy sacred anymore? This story is obviously disturbing on a variety of levels, and now I even question my own privacy when using the facilities at my school. The idea of an individual who is supposed to be an example of character and leadership taking advantage of underage girls is a serious issue that must be addressed by schools as soon as possible.

How might this situation be addressed? Although hindsight is always 20/20, school officials probably should have been more proactive when first hearing about David Lista's YouTube videos, if they were in fact made aware of those videos. In order to prevent similar situations in the future, school administrations should perform more extensive background checks on prospective teachers.

Many employers take full advantage of Internet networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, in order to make sure that their employees possess the character they claim to have. Apparently, YouTube should now be another source that future employers should look to when developing a complete picture of an individual.