Clarkstown PTAs Donate $2,500 to Help Launch Video Recording of School Board Meetings

Clarkstown school district residents could soon be able to follow the workings of the Board of Education from the comfort of their homes.

At Thursday's meeting, the board agreed to accept the donation of $2,500 from the Clarkstown Council of PTAs to be used to help with video recording of board meetings.

School Board President Phillip DeGaetano said he hopes the district will eventually take the concept further and digitally record other meetings and functions.

"We do not have anything to hide," he said.

PTA Council President Dorothy Atzl said her group was more than happy to donate the funds.

"This will be an invaluable service to our community," she said.

The rationale included allowing senior citizens and parents with young children who cannot easily get to the meetings to stay informed.

The council also felt the public was entitled to reliable information they could see and hear for themselves. Atzl said the idea goes back to August 2009 when the council's executive committee discussed asking the board to video record its meetings for the community.

Eventually, she said, it was put on the board's agenda. However, Atzl said, the budget process for 2010-11 was shaping up to be a tough one and the council decided to postpone lobbying for the video.

"We did not want to distract everyone from the hard work at hand," Atzl said.

With the start of the 2010-11 school year, she said the council decided to donate $2,500 to facilitate the video recording.

Atzl said the council's hope is to have "unedited, uncensored, full versions of Board of Education meetings [that] will be available to the Clarkstown community" on the district's Web site.

"We also hope that the meeting footage can be archived for a substantial period of time so everyone has access," she said.

Schools Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan said it was her belief that, if confidential information such as personnel records were to be revealed during a recorded session, the board could authorize the editing of that information.

Also at Thursday's meeting, the board approved a contract with Phil Costa of New City, a retired Clarkstown police officer, to photograph district events and video record board meetings, at a cost not to exceed $10,000.

DeGaetano said he would like to see the district's students help Costa with videos  and photography.