I am high school music teacher and my students have to rehearse outside. We have been receiving numerous complaints from one neighbor about ...

Question

I am high school music teacher and my students have to rehearse outside. We have been receiving numerous complaints from one neighbor about the drums being too loud during the day. We are finished before 5 PM if we do have to rehearse outside which is about once a month. He has recently resorted to taking photographs of my students from his yard and sending them to the principal. My question is, is it legal to take photographs of minors at a public school without their consent? I live in California

Answer

Yep, it's legal. They are in a public place, in plain view. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy. The photos can't be used for commercial purposes without consent. It doesn't sound like your outside practices constitute a nuisance, particularly since music is expected to be a type of noise typically coming from a school, the music isn't late or louder than a prescribed decibel level. No problem.