Two members of the Homewood-Flossmoor High School District 233 school board are asking fellow board members to re-examine the issue of recording board meetings where decisions are made.
At the Aug. 20 meeting, members Pam Jackson and Michelle Hoereth proposed the board take another look at the issue. The board voted 4-3 in September 2019 not to move forward with recording sessions, citing various issues that could complicate the initiative.
Despite that no vote, the recording issue was placed on the board’s Planning Committee agenda in November 2020. Again it was voted down. Committee members Nate Legardy and former member Debbie Berman voted against re-opening the discussion. Member Pam Jackson was in favor of re-examining the issue.
At that time, Jackson said a full report on the issue or a list of expenses for video recording were never presented to the school board.
Now, four years later, Jackson has brought the issue to the board again. At the August meeting, Jackson acknowledged that everyone’s schedule is busy. She stressed that not being present at board meetings doesn’t mean parents and residents lack interest in what the board is doing. Making the meetings available would be a positive move giving district residents information they need.
“Ditto that,” Hoereth said.
Board President Gerald Pauling agreed and said the board should take a look at the recording issue.
Requests for recording board meetings go back at least eight years. It was a hotly contested issue for about three years. One parent went to such lengths to get the word out that he posted his video of board meetings to social media. Both Flossmoor District 161 and Homewood District 153 live-stream and posts meetings to their websites.
While there is no legal mandate for recording, the board reasoned in 2019 that District 233 would have greater responsibilities to students and parents than others do, including:
- How long would recordings need to be maintained, and by whom and in what format?
- How expensive would this endeavor be?
- Who would be responsible for the recordings?
- How can the district protect students whose parents have restricted H-F from video/audio recordings of their children?
- What are the liabilities to the district?
- How can the board address privacy issues?
The board’s attorney in January 2018 said she worked with 50 school boards and only three were recording.
Since the board’s review of the matter, the country has gone through a pandemic that forced schools to use video/online learning. Jackson said it was time for the school board to take a fresh look at the issue of video recordings.