Morgan Hill Board of Education meetings on air and online now

1. Since 2005, local school district parents, students and interested parties have had no way of finding out what their trustees are doing when they can’t attend school board meetings

Two years after the Morgan Hill Unified School District stopped broadcasting its board of education meetings on Morgan Hill Public Access Channel 19, local public K-12 stakeholders still don’t have a way to view the meetings in the absence of an agreement with cable provider Charter Communications and the City of Morgan Hill.

Trustees appear to be waiting for a resolution with the cable company, which, according to city officials, is asking for $9,000 in infrastructure costs. According to Times staff writer Marilyn Dubil, the city and the district don’t want to pay the fee.

1. Most school districts in the state are broadcasting or webcasting their meetings with little cost to their budgets because they know it is an investment with a high return 

The district, the city and the cable company need to take leadership in this area and find a way to move past this financial hurdle. It seems like such an insignificant issue when considering the information and educational benefits the channel and the broadcasts will provide to Morgan Hill residents. At the very least, the meetings should be webcast. Streaming video is not rocket science.

Time-strapped parents, teachers and students need to have a way to watch the trustees’ deliberations in the comfort of their homes or computer monitors. Borrowing the popular phrase, trustees and city officials shouldn’t be “penny-wise and dollar-foolish,” with this goal. Charter Communications could be flexible in accommodating this community need. The past meetings’ cablecast happened because two district teachers volunteered their time to videotape the meetings.

1. Providing television and online access to school trustee meetings is about government transparency, strengthening the democratic process and reaching out to all segments of our community 

The lack of broadcasts keeps the public in the dark. It shows that under the administration of our board of trustees, there seems to be no real leadership in the area of public information. 

Something so seemingly simple – in this age of modern technology and public access information and in this bastion of technology leadership – has become complicated for trustees who seem inept or afraid to take leadership in this area and excuse their inaction by citing agreement and contract issues with MHAT and Charter Communication.

The board has had plenty of time to train students to learn how to do this. 

The city of Morgan Hill does it. It’s now even considering streaming video of its meetings on its Web site.

It’s time for the school board to outline a plan to begin broadcasting and webcasting its meetings immediately. To continue to wait is to ignore the tremendous potential of this service, which other school boards report draws more viewers in to the education debate and increases its quality.

ACT NOW

Write to the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education at 15600 Concord Circle, Morgan Hill, CA 95037, call (408) 201-6000, or e-mail Board of Education President Peter Mandel at [email protected], or Board of Education Vice President Kathy Sullivan at [email protected].