The Glendale Unified School District School Board, the elite posse running our schools, has hired a Hermosa Beach surveillance company, Geo Listening, to monitor students’ activity on the various media platforms that dominate our lives.

Cyberbullying has apparently gone out of control — think the Drew Ferraro suicide nearly two years ago — and the District wants to crack down on the students who are being harassed and who are doing the deed of harassment. Moreover, Geo Listening is also looking into tweets and posts centered around substance abuse, hate, vandalism, skipping school and just all the things that make you a rebel on the Internet.

Here’s the part that really grinds my gears. The District shelled out $40,500 and just placed it on this company’s desk, essentially. $40,500. Let’s just let that sink in. That is money that could go to buying new class sets of textbooks, improving the quality of cafeteria food and most importantly, that money could be going to our teachers.

The truth is this, in plain form: teachers do not get paid enough for all that they do. For example, my math teacher has to teach a class of 37 kids. We had to request more desks and chairs because we didn’t have enough room. How do they throw money like that to an outside, private company when the insides of our schools are suffering and need help?

To add on to this, they’ve done this without informing the students or their parents. They’ve gone behind our backs, used money from our taxes and don’t even want to give us a little hint about their activity. Mr. Dall calls us when we have minimum days. Isn’t this important too?

Look, I can understand that cyberbullying is a problem. And according to Dr. Sheehan, this surveillance program is going to keep students from harming themselves and harming others. If this is what it takes to keep a student from doing something destructive, then so be it. However, there are ways to monitor students at school through the use of proper supervision by teachers and administrators. It is the parent’s job to monitor his or her child outside of school.

Does the Glendale Unified School District really need to stoop down to a level, where we’re forced to lose trust in those who should be helping us reach our goals?