Once Again, the Iowa City Community School District's TV Channel Isn't Working

Caption: A photo of my TV screen on October 13, 2015, less than a few hours before the school board meets tonight. Channel 21 has been out since at least 2:15 p.m., about an hour and a half that I know of.

I’m so tired of turning on channel 21, Mediacom’s access to the Iowa City Community School District’s events, including the school board meetings, to find that the channel is not working. It’s not Mediacom’s fault. Other Mediacom channels are working. It’s the school district’s fault. Channel 21’s dysfunction is not technically a violation of the open meetings law, but the school district’s TV channel’s frequent dysfunction is certainly not in the spirit of the open meetings law. The channel frequently either doesn’t work at all (no picture and no sound), or it’s dark, or the sound is off.

I’m fairly certain that a high school audio-visual group could run the school district’s TV channel more competently than whoever’s running it now. Channel 21 is a disgrace. If it’s not a subliminal effort to counter the open meetings law, it sure looks like one.

Tonight, for example, the October 13, 2015 school board meets at 6:00 p.m. At 7:30 p.m. central time, CNN will broadcast the Democratic candidates’ debate. If channel 21 is still out, due to gross incompetence, I can go to the school board meeting in person, but I would have to leave the school board meeting early, in all likelihood, to watch the Democratic debate.

If I could stay home, I could watch both without walking out of a meeting and feeling rude. I could also tape the rest of the meeting so I could watch it later.

I’ve told Phil Hemingway, Tom Yates, and Chris Liebig that the dysfunction of channel 21 is a serious issue hampering the public’s ability to know what the school board and district administration are up to. I’m hoping that the situation improves.