The laptops are locked away for the summer, new school policies drafted, court orders signed, and public apologies extended.
But students and parents in the Lower Merion School District who hoped to begin the next school year with the webcam-monitoring furor behind them might think again.
The lawsuit that first exposed the district's practice of secretly activating webcams on student laptops shows no signs of ending, with lawyers last week trading barbs over who was delaying the case and why.
The U.S. Attorney's Office will not discuss its probe into the matter. And two Lower Merion employees suspended with pay since February have not been told whether or when they will get their jobs back.
Meanwhile, the school district's legal tab for the case - which last month was nearing $1 million and climbing - remains the subject of a separate dispute with its insurer.
After working with a consultant in recent months to review and revise its technology policies, the school board is expected to consider new policies Monday, including letters about the laptop program that will go to all students and parents. And a committee of 60 administrators, teachers, parents, and students has been meeting to examine the webcam issue and recommend more changes.
"Our goal is to be a national model when it comes to the intersection of technology, privacy, and security," said spokesman Doug Young.
But still looming is the lawsuit by a Harriton High School student that brought global attention to Lower Merion and stirred debate.
On Friday, attorneys for the school district asked a judge to deny a bid by the student, Blake Robbins, and his attorney to certify the lawsuit as a class-action matter.
In a motion to U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois, the district's attorneys said that Robbins was not representative of a larger class and that steps taken by Lower Merion - and an injunction signed by the judge - should prevent the practice from happening again.
"Certification would in fact be just the first of several potentially burdensome and expensive steps," said the motion, signed by four Ballard Spahr L.L.P. attorneys.
Robbins' attorney, Mark S. Haltzman, said the school district's motion reneged on an earlier agreement not to fight class certification. He said it was a ploy to deter other students from suing for being photographed by their laptop webcams.
"They're trying to make it more difficult for those they have injured to recover," Haltzman said.
