Last week, the school board discussed a problem that has arisen with the broadcast of board meeting and it wasn?t because the board wanted to stop the public from seeing the meetings. {{more: continue …}}
According to Deputy Superintendent Dr. Missy Glenn, the issue is one that is being debated around area school districts. Many district have done just what Kennedale has done and started videotaping school board meetings and then posting the videos on the school website. The medium used to show the tapes has been You Tube.
A problem with closed caption ?
The program has been working but that is part of the issue. The district by making it a public offering now has to make sure that all the public has equal access under the American for Disabilities Act (ACT). While You Tube offers a closed caption option, it cannot guarantee a perfect translation of the proceedings. In fact it may offers a completely erroneous interpretation of what is being said at the meeting.
Last Thursday night at the regular monthly meeting, Board members expressed their frustration and didn?t seem to like the option presented at the meeting. Apparently an option that has been adopted by a several other districts is to stop the posting of the videos and put up a written summary of each board meeting while maintaining the videos and making them available to those who want to see a particular session.
Several options were mentioned including getting the high school AV program to help with transcription and obtaining the services of a sign language interpreter for each board meeting.
The item was originally listed as an item under the consent agenda, one that would not be discussed but simply approved along with several other consent items. For the meeting it was removed from the consent agenda so that it could be discussed.Superintendent Gary Dugger suggested that maybe a decision on this item should be postponed so that staff could looked at other options. Board members quickly agreed and a decision was postponed for a later meeting.
