When the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board voted to provide video live-streams and recordings of regular meetings in March of 2019, the vote was 4-3 allowing the videos. The current board will receive a recommendation to expand the meetings subject to video live-streaming and recording.
The HSE Schools Policy Committee, in a Thursday morning session, is sending a proposal to the board providing that all public school board meetings be video live-streamed and recorded. Currently, board work sessions, where no action is expected, are not being video live-streamed or recorded. Executive sessions will not be live-streamed or recorded.
The current board meeting room at the administration building is the only location where video can be live-streamed and recorded. If the board chose to hold a meeting at another location, such as a school building, there would be no video setup. However, the board has not had a meeting outside the board room since the administration building was renovated.
Jeff Harrison, HSE Director of Education Technology, told the committee expanding the video coverage to work sessions would result in some increase in the cost. The contractor live-streaming and storing videos for later viewing allows 25 meetings per year under the current agreement. Because the board meets only once in some months, HSE does not use all 25 meetings allowed. HSE did exceed 25 meetings a year during COVID, but the contractor agreed not to charge extra under the circumstances.
In the past year, Harrison counted 35 meetings, including work sessions. That would have required 10 meetings with video beyond the current contract. The contractor currently charges “about $500 a meeting,” according to Harrison.
The current video contractor has been acquired by another firm since HSE entered into the contract, and that firm was acquired by a third company just last week, Harrison told the committee. However, the new company has not indicated any changes in pricing to school administrators.
HSE Chief Financial Officer Katy Dowling says if, for example, the board went to two regular meetings a month and one or more work sessions each month, she estimates the additional cost at about $8,000 a year under the current contractor agreement.
“I wouldn’t say cost is a barrier,” Dowling said, considering the district’s total budget for 2023 is expected to be about $287 million. “The board has to weigh – is the cost worth the benefit to the public?”
This proposal will be brought to the school board for first reading October 26. If the board chooses to adopt the policy change, final action could be taken at the November 9 meeting, and any work session after November 9 could be video live-streamed and recorded.