In a letter to the editor to Highlands Today, Larry J. Overfield said the school board meetings should streamed online for parents, grandparents and taxpayers who cannot attend the meetings in person.
He has been attending school board meetings during the past two months and also has attended some county commission meetings, Overfield noted.
If he misses a county commission meeting it is available for viewing online, but that is not so at the School Board of Highlands County, he said.
“For those who cannot make it to the meeting there should be a way to keep informed,” he said. “Streaming the meeting to the Internet would accomplish just that.”
School Board Chairwoman Donna Howerton said Overfield had spoken to her about the possibility of televising or setting up an online viewing of the meetings.
“I know years back this was looked into,” she said. “There was quite a cost setting this up. That may not be the case now.
“I told Mr. Overfield I don’t have a problem with allowing to have our meetings viewed.”
Howerton said she would love to see more members of the public along with district staff in attendance at board meetings.
If there is a high cost to televising the meetings doing so would not be at the top of her “needs list” since the meetings are accessible for the public to attend, she said.
“I would rather see those dollars go for cameras for safety in our schools along with other requests right now,” Howerton said.
District Instructional Technology Specialist Darrell Layfield said Wednesday that he consulted with District Computer & Technical Support Manager Harry Howes to confirm the equipment needs to stream and record the meetings.
After checking prices, Layfield said it would cost between $2,000 to $2,500 for the equipment for good quality audio/video of the meetings.
If you buy lower-budget equipment the quality would not be acceptable, he said.
Another consideration, Layfield noted, a staff member would have to post the recordings to the district’s website and manage the video and recording process.
School Board Vice Chairwoman Jan Shoop said it would be “wonderful” if the district could stream the meetings on the internet.
“Anything we can do to be more open, but currently we don’t have the capability; we do not have the equipment,” she said.
©2015 the Highlands Today (Sebring, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.