District 308 May Start Videotaping Meetings

It could soon be lights, camera, action for Board members.

In a move to be more transparent in sharing information, at the suggestion of 308 School Board President Bill Walsh, district officials are looking into videotaping meetings and posting them on the district’s website.

“Many parents are either working in the evening or working two jobs that really want to come but can’t,” Walsh said. “This will allow them to watch the meetings online in the future.”

Since the community does not have a local cable television station, Kristine Liptrot, director of communications for District 308, said how and where the video would be broadcast was always a question.

“We expanded our transparency when we began using BoardDocs and made audio recordings of the meetings available to the public,” she said.

John Petzke, executive director of technology, said when District 308 first began using BoardDocs, the electronic governance program, officials asked about the availability to videotape and play back the meetings.

“But the closest thing they had at the time was audio files,” he said.

Petzke said some area school districts either record board meetings and have them available for playback or stream them live.

“But of course things like that cost money,” he said.

Petzke will present the board with a cost analysis at a future meeting.