As other students moved through a busy Fontainebleau High School hallway, a girl brandishing a curling iron approached another student. As the two girls pushed and shoved, a crowd gathered to watch the excitement. Classmates moved in to try to break up the fight. A male bystander threw up his fists to cheer on the violence.

The fight was captured within the past few weeks on one of 38 security cameras recently installed on the Mandeville-area school's campus. That video footage, and more like it, are helping Principal Johnny Vitrano separate the guilty from the innocent.

"In the past it took time to figure out what happened," he said Tuesday afternoon, "now with the cameras, it is what it is."

The St. Tammany Parish School Board began installing the cameras last summer, using $2 million secured through last year's voter-approved bond initiative. The cameras are one of several steps the district has taken in recent years to improve school security.

Through the initiative, high schools, junior highs and elementaries were slated to receive 25, 10, and five cameras respectively, but many administrators have obtained additional cameras using school money.

"Someone told me that we have more cameras in our high schools than the city of New Orleans has fighting crime on the streets, and ours work," Superintendent Gayle Sloan boasted.

All but two schools, Bayou Woods and Honey Island elementary schools in Slidell, have had cameras installed. Officials expect work on the last two to be completed by the end of next week.

Since their installation, the cameras have earned raves from school administrators, who say they help them identify troublemakers, reward good behavior, and justify students' punishment to disbelieving parents.

They also have attracted the attention of state Attorney General James D. "Buddy" Caldwell, who said during a tour of Fontainebleau Tuesday that St. Tammany is leading the way in school security.

The students' knowledge of the cameras in school can serve as a deterrent to crime, Caldwell said. "There are not enough schools doing this."

During a demonstration, the district's Information Technology Director Louis Boullion pulled up a screen featuring video feeds from nine cameras. From his or her computer, each school principal can select which cameras to view, or zoom in one shot for a closer view.

Lee Road Junior High School Principal Anna Bowie said the cameras have made staff at her Covington school feel safer. They also have served as a powerful tool with students, "who think we have cameras everywhere and we're not going to change their mind."

"In the past it took time to figure out what happened," he said Tuesday afternoon, "now with the cameras, it is what it is."

The St. Tammany Parish School Board began installing the cameras last summer, using $2 million secured through last year's voter-approved bond initiative. The cameras are one of several steps the district has taken in recent years to improve school security.

Through the initiative, high schools, junior highs and elementaries were slated to receive 25, 10, and five cameras respectively, but many administrators have obtained additional cameras using school money.

"Someone told me that we have more cameras in our high schools than the city of New Orleans has fighting crime on the streets, and ours work," Superintendent Gayle Sloan boasted.

All but two schools, Bayou Woods and Honey Island elementary schools in Slidell, have had cameras installed. Officials expect work on the last two to be completed by the end of next week.

Since their installation, the cameras have earned raves from school administrators, who say they help them identify troublemakers, reward good behavior, and justify students' punishment to disbelieving parents.

They also have attracted the attention of state Attorney General James D. "Buddy" Caldwell, who said during a tour of Fontainebleau Tuesday that St. Tammany is leading the way in school security.