The Lower Merion School District gave laptops to all 1800 pupils. Each laptop has a built in webcam which was remotely
switched on without the pupils knowledge whilst they were at school and at home.
On Thursday, the Lower Merion School District posted a letter to parents on its website saying it had always "gone to great lengths" to protect the privacy of its students.
In it, the Schools Superintendent Christopher McGinley gives details of the security feature, which he said was activated only if a laptop was reported lost, stolen or missing.
"The security feature's capabilities were limited to taking a still image of the operator and the operator's screen," he wrote.
"This feature was only used for the narrow purpose of locating a lost, stolen or missing laptop. The District never activated the security feature for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever."
However, the district had carried out a preliminary review of security procedures and had disabled the security-tracking program, he added.
The district would now conduct a thorough review of the existing policies for student laptop use and look at any other "technology areas in which the intersection of privacy and security may come into play".
BBC report and the
Lower Merion School District response 
