Perhaps there’s another way to look at the whole Gig Harbor High School girls-on-film incident.

That’s the situation where the dean of students caught two girls holding hands and exchanging a kiss in the commons. Because he’d been asked by one of the girls’ parents to note and report any out-of-the-ordinary behavior, he showed a video of the kiss to those parents, who then yanked their daughter out of the school.

The other girl remains at school but feels her privacy was abused and that she was singled out because boys kiss girls with fewer consequences.

But there’s more. It’s also the situation where the school district asserted that the dean did nothing wrong but that he’ll never do it again. And that this was an isolated incident but that using the cameras to sleuth out similar minor offenses has happened before.

And that the cameras are really to keep the kids, the staff and the school safe from danger, but that they’ve been handy in stopping littering and the epidemic of public displays of affection. And that such displays violate school policy but that only this couple has been affected in such a drastic way. And that the official involved is called the dean of students but says he’s all about doing whatever the parents want.

So far, most of the comments on the story can be divided into two camps – those who reference George Orwell’s “1984,” and those who reference the threat of school violence.

The first group thinks having kids watched with the unblinking eye of the surveillance camera is yet another example of government control. Big Brother is not only watching, he is storing it all in a digital archive and using it to enforce a narrow code of behavior. Less safety, this group believes, is the price of freedom.

The second group is pleased that the government would be so thoughtful to use whatever means to assure that nothing bad happens to anyone at school. And if something bad does happen, the perpetrators will be punished to the full extent of the law and district policies. Less freedom, this group believes, is the price of safety.

It’s tough to complain about the decline of privacy when those who do are accused of aiding al-Qaida. So perhaps we should just accept it. Since cameras are here to stay, and since the terrorists have already won, maybe we should look for a way to make this work for everyone.

There has to be a better use – at least an additional use – of all of that video. Our schools must have hundreds and hundreds of hours of video record lying around, waiting for someone to make a drug deal, plan an assault or kiss someone their parents don’t want them to kiss.

Isn’t there a way to turn a profit and use the money to make the educational experience so much richer, if not so private?

How about video yearbooks? A year in the life of your school captured in grainy surveillance video complete with the soundtrack of your choice. Call it High School Not-So-Confidential. How much would you pay for that?

Maybe you’d be interested in a highlight reel of your own kid – eating lunch, standing in the halls, going to and from the bathroom. Isn’t that what memories are made of?

Now that pop and junk food have been banned from the vending machines, schools are having to cut back on activities. We could replace the lost cash with some fun activities like a kangaroo court where student leaders view videos of rule violations and take a donation to ASB in exchange for not calling in the parents.

And what principal or dean of students wouldn’t thrill to the opportunities for taking special orders from parents in return for a contribution to Grad Night. Don’t want your kid hanging around with that kid? Want to make sure your daughter isn’t adjusting her wardrobe after leaving the house? The principal can keep many eyes out for such mischief and report in regularly.

And we haven’t even touched on the potential for reality TV.

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com