Streaming, Recording Of Westfield School Board Meetings Under Review

WESTFIELD, NJ — The Westfield school board is making some changes after a heated meeting in October.

The Board of Education(BOE) passed a policy at the Nov. 21 meeting where a speaker no longer is required to provide their home address when speaking during public comment.

"Per our attorney, it is not legally required to collect the personal addresses. Just names and municipalities and/or organizations and we recommend changing the bylaw," said Board member Leila Morrelli, who sits on the Policy, Personnel, and Governance(PPG) committee.

Board member Sahar Aziz questioned why there was a rush to pass this policy without a second reading.

Board President Sonal Patel said the purpose was for the "safety of the public."

Safety concerns were raised by residents following a heated BOE meeting on Oct. 17 regarding the ongoing war in Gaza.

"There were a lot of concerns about people stating their and other people's addresses at the last meeting. I don’t understand what the problem is? We are asking to bypass the typical procedure for the safety of all the members of the community," said Morrelli to Aziz.

The Board ultimately passed the policy with Aziz being the lone "no" vote.

Additionally, at the Nov. 17 meeting, Morrelli said the PPG Committee also discussed streaming and recordings of school board meetings and how they are not mandatory.

"At this time the district is continuing to do this and no changes are being recommended but we are going to continue to review and discuss this policy in the PPG meetings to see how the climate is working out on whether we will be continuing to stream and record meetings," said Morrelli.

This comes on the heels of the Oct. 17 meeting where the video was not released to the public immediately as it was "under review."

During that meeting, some residents called for the removal or resignation of Aziz, for sharing social media posts that are critical of Israel amid the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza. Some also said Superintendent Raymond Gonzalez did not go far enough to condemn the terrorist actions of Hamas.

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