School board meetings to be live-streamed
The Laguna Beach Unified School District stepped into the video age Tuesday night, when trustees voted to live-stream board meetings and archive the proceedings on the district website.
The 3-1 decision is a victory for residents who have requested greater transparency and access to information from the district. Currently, board meetings are captured on audiotape, which is made available on the website. But the recordings are prone to glitches, and the video is being touted as technologically superior.
Plans call for the purchase of three cameras to be mounted on the walls inside the board room to show speakers at various locations, such as the speaker’s podium and board and staff tables.
Trustee William Landsiedel, dissented, calling the idea a waste of money.
“If we spend money in the classroom, great, our money is spent on education and not on people wishing to grandstand or board members to get elected,” Landsiedel said.
“It’s political. I don’t think it will add one bit of value. It will add cost, it will malfunction and we’ll have to get the tech guys in here. It will slow down meetings.”
The district will use a computer system called Granicus, which Laguna Beach employs for City Council meetings. School districts in Burbank, Los Angeles and Simi Valley also use the software, according to a district staff report.
Granicus allows a person, after a meeting, to click on an agenda item and immediately watch that part of the proceeding.
District staff expects equipment purchases and setup will cost $50,000, with maintenance of the online video archive estimated at $6,000 a year. Bids for the work will be sought.
Board member Dee Perry championed video recording during last fall’s campaign, calling the technology “necessary.”
“It definitely adds to authenticity and transparency ... [which] will be helpful when disagreements arise,” Perry said.
The district says monitoring the cameras during meetings and archiving the footage will take five to 10 hours per week.
Board members directed staff to return at a later date with more information about the specific job duties and associated costs for someone to handle the video tasks.
Chief Technology Officer Mike Morrison said he hopes to start streaming board meetings this fall.