Paparazzi-control measures suggested at preschool

A Santa Monica nursery school popular with celebrities is being urged to hire security guards and train its staff on making citizen arrests to help control paparazzi who hound the children and their famous parents.

A staff report done at the request of the City Council also suggests that a visible police presence be created around school areas during peak drop-off and pickup times.

In the end, however, the report indicates that not a lot can be done to curtail the activities of photographers and videographers because of their 1st Amendment rights.

Read more at the Santa Monica Daily Press.

Comments

[jrhmobile]

This is easy. Create an enclosed drive-through alongside the facility where people can pick up and drop off their little ones. A well-enclosed carport area, with some light, but not enough for photographers outside to take pictures. Frame it in with dark tarps until such protection can be built permanently. End of problem.

[Lezlee]

No tax money should go towards this problem. With fame, very often comes a lot of money. Private security paid by these celebrities is the only solution. Not to mention my own cynicism that leads me to believe they use the property for media exposure. Or they want to have their children in this preschool for the prestige. For real privacy they would be taking their child to a gated, secure property. Ie...this is not the only preschool solution for their child. And my tax dollars are not the only solution for this problem.

[laurn]

just b/c they are "famous" doesnt mean that they can be harassed 24/7. and what about their children? they didnt make that decision. how are they supposed to learn with these ppl surrounding them. thats craZy Celebs are ppl too!

[daphne]

I agree that tax dollars are not an appropriate fix. The school should consider, as ours does, limiting the number of celebrities it accepts. It protects everyone and it works. We have one of the biggest stars around at our school and I haven't once seen a paparazzi. It's a celebrity driven city- we cater to them way too much and I believe even pre schools fall into the trap.

[Jennifer]

For the sake of real privacy and security, I would not want my children growing up in Los Angeles.

If you are a well-known and recognized name in the entertainment industry, why must you live in Hollywood? You do not. Living in the same area, where the vast majority of the paparazzi are based, is a choice.

It sounds hollow for famous actors to whine about an invasion of their privacy, or their child's privacy, and yet choose to remain in the same environment where hundreds of paparazzi photographers are constantly roaming.

If I had millions of dollars and was so famous that photographers followed me, or my children, around California, I would no longer live my personal life in California.

If it's so important to be close to California, why not move just next door to Arizona, into a 24-hour guard-gated community? Why not move to Texas, or Florida, where there is no state income tax? Have you ever heard of paparazzi chasing people around Phoenix, Dallas or Orlando?

Moving your family away from the media storms that regularly happen in Los Angeles may be one of the best choices that could be made.

[critic]

Is the LA Times trying to protect the anonymity of the school? I guess I'm old-fashioned, but I expect a news article to contain Who, What, Where, When, Why and How.

[MikeOHara]

I bet neither the parents nor the school would complain as long as they got a cut of the profits from the pix.

Church preschools tend to be very moderately priced compared to private preschools. Why not spend a bit more for a private school?

[Melaine Samson]

oh.. poor rich celebrities. They're going to have to go to Europe to forget. My heart bleeds.