Should Johnston School Board Record its Meetings?

Residents of the Johnston school district could have easier access to school board meetings through video or voice recordings.

Tonight, the board will again discuss whether or not to record meetings via video or voice recordings to be posted on the district website for those who can not attend meetings.

The issue was brought to the board on March 26, after board member John Dutcher asked about video recording of the meetings.

Staff reviewed several other metro district's methods of recording meetings, finding audio recording to be the most used.

The cost for recording could be anywhere from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars for equipment and method of recording used.

The board was split on the issue and board president Marci Cordaro instructed board members to email her with direction to include further discussion at tonight's meeting.

Recordings of meetings, if approved, would not begin until the issue is looked at by the board's policy committee.

Other agenda items include:

• approval of the coordinator of communications and marketing position.
• approval of the director teaching and learning position.
• approval of the fiscal year 2013 certified budget. A public hearing will be held at the beginning of the meeting.
• approval of the capital improvement projects.

The Johnston school board meets at 4 p.m for a work session followed by the regular board meeting at 6 p.m. in the .