UPDATE: Teachers gone after classroom videotaping

  An Albany charter school teacher has been fired and another teacher has resigned after being videotaped by a camera   in the back of a classroom at the Achievement Academy Charter School.

 But despite a Times Union report Tuesday on their website which indicated the teachers were secretly videotaped, Brighter Choice Foundation Executive Director Chris Bender said Tuesday afternoon there was 'no secret taping going on at the school.'

  In a statement Tuesday afternoon from the Brighter Choice Foundation,which sponsors the school, applauded what was called the 'huge success' of a decision to use frequent classroom  lesson videotaping 'as a way to improve instruction'.

  The Times Union reports English teacher Carol Connelly resigned after spotting a camera in the back of her classroom.  Another teacher, Ryan Marie Roberts,told the TU she was fired after administrators said a secretly videotaped classroom lesson showed she was not performing well.

  The TU reports a student spotted a flashing red light in a storage area and notified Roberts.  The next day Roberts was asked to leave Achievement Academy.

But Bender said the teachers knew the taping was going to happen as part of a program of insuring quality classroom instruction.  He said one teacher resigned and one was fired after administrators looked at the classroom footage.

  Bender went on to say 'we believe in it,we don't make apologies for it'.

  The Brighter Choice Foundation,which sponsors 10 of Albany's charter schools, eight of which are open,pointed to the new State Education Commissioner David Steiner who the statement indicated 'pioneered' classroom videotaping  as a way to analyze lessons and teachers.

  In the statement Principal Swan said at first she was 'skeptical' of the videtaping process but that now she was 'an enthusiast'.