School Board Mulls Recording Meetings

The Manasquan School Board next week is expected to vote on changing its bi-laws to allow audio recordings of its meetings to be posted online. 

At the board's Tuesday work session, President Michelle LaSala said that posting full audio recordings of each meeting could help lighten the load on Board Secretary Margaret "Peg" Hom, also the districts's business administrator, from fulfilling Open Public Records Act requests for meeting minutes. 

Officials said that Hom spends a great deal of her time handling OPRA requests for minutes, which she also has the responsibility of typing up, and perhaps providing the public with the audio would alleviate some of her workload. 

The minutes themselves, officials said, have become so detailed that some meetings are 18 pages long. Board Attorney R. Armen McComber said the minutes were most likely more descriptive than required by law. 

The files would be made available indefinitely on the district's website for the public to access at anytime, officials said. 

The board is expected to vote on changing its procedural bi-laws to allow the change at its regular meeting, Tuesday, April 24.