By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Montgomery Township school district officials are exploring the possibility of making recordings of the township Board of Education meetings available to the public., The school board’s Communications Committee will consider the request, which was raised by school board member Phyllis Bursh at the school board’s Jan. 10 meeting., Ms. Bursh asked that the committee “investigate and improve” the public’s access to the meetings, which already are audiotape-recorded for future reference and to help school district officials to prepare the meeting minutes., Ms. Bursh suggested that access to the tapes of the meetings could be provided through a link on the school district’s website, or through posting them on YouTube. She also asked whether the meetings could be streamed live, and if a remedy could be found for the poor sound quality at the meetings., School board president Rick Cavalli said the Communications Committee would explore the issue. School district officials also will search for ways to improve the sound quality at the meetings, he said., After the meeting, Ms. Bursh said some school districts provide links on their websites to recordings of school board meetings so the public may view or listen to them. Some districts even stream the meetings live, she said., “The meetings should be easily accessible all the time (so) people will be aware of what is going on,” Ms. Bursh said. The meetings are broadcast locally on Comcast, but some residents do not have access to Comcast and can’t see the meetings, she said., “Anything that would provide quick and easy access” to the school board meetings would be good, she said., The Lawrence Township Board of Education provides audio tapes of the meetings on its website. The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional Board of Education videotapes its meetings and posts the tapes on its website.
