Editor’s Note: This is the last in a three-part series looking at school district transparency. Day One looked at how disclosures are handled and why gaps occur. Day Two offers specific rankings on financial disclosure documents. Today’s look focuses on video streaming accessibility of school board meetings.
Parents at Saddleback Valley Unified School District are frustrated.
City officials do not post audio or video of school board meetings online. Parents who can’t attend meetings in person are out of luck.
And many want that to change.
Though most Orange County school boards provide live streams and archived meetings, some districts fall short of meeting these basic transparency standards.
Editors’ Note: This dispatch is part of the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service, working with student journalists to cover public policy issues across Orange County. If you would like to submit your own student media project related to Orange County civics or if you have any response to this work, contact admin@voiceofoc.org.
Chapman University students set out to rank school districts on how easy it is for residents to tune in to their local school board meeting online.
Out of the 29 Orange County school boards, including the OC Board of Education, six were rated as either a D or an F because their meetings are largely inaccessible to parents.
School’s Out
A Voice of OC investigation found many school districts aren’t as transparent as you’d think when it comes to open meetings and official disclosures.
The Saddleback Valley Unified School District, along with the Savanna School District, received failing marks because they don’t record and post their meetings for public review.
After publication, officials with Saddleback reached out to say that they do make audio recordings of their meetings available to parents who want to contact the superintendent to schedule a time to come down and listen to recordings or in turn, pay $4 for a zip drive audio recording to be sent by mail.
While there is no legal obligation for officials to post audio or video recordings of meetings, the outcry at Saddleback Valley prompted parents to file a petition on Sept. 10 demanding the district start live-streaming its meetings immediately.
Spearheaded by concerned parent Lisa Matro, the petition has garnered substantial support, collecting more than 400 signatures as of Nov. 15.
In the petition, Matro wrote that while parents and stakeholders are encouraged to attend school board meetings, the crowd often exceeds capacity and many cannot make the meetings due to conflicting schedules.
“Many parents, including myself, have made this request repeatedly over the past two-plus years, and believe it’s time for reconsideration,” she wrote in the petition.
For the other OC districts, four of them earned a “B,” meaning they had only audio recordings and no video, while two districts earned a “C” for making their recordings only available by request.
The remaining 17 school boards earned an “A” because they provide both video and audio recordings, with some archives dating as far back as 2002.
These findings, the result of an investigation by Chapman University journalism students, raise questions regarding transparency and accessibility among school boards across the county.
The differences in the accessibility of these school board meetings point to a stark contrast in the commitment of some districts to transparency and public engagement. According to the Savanna School District board president Chris Brown, understaffing is the cause of this issue for their district.
“We have a very small technology team and don’t want to add to their already overcrowded schedules to stay and record board meetings,” Brown said.
California News Press Association attorney Brittney Barsotti said these issues highlight the need for an evaluation of the resources of each school board to ensure that transparency and accessibility remain a priority.
“I’ve heard arguments before that some facilities are set up without the internet capability to stream or to allow remote participation or that it’s technologically difficult,” she said. “Our association stands by that there should be an in-person option, but additional access should be provided.”
Why can 21 Orange County School Boards provide meeting recordings and archives to the public in an accessible manner while eight are failing to do so? For some, it’s as simple as not wanting to.
Jimmy Lambos, the assistant to Huntington Beach City’s superintendent, said the meetings could only be requested up to 30 days after the meeting took place before getting deleted.
When asked why, Lambos said it was the board’s decision, but because there are no archives, the public has no way of knowing what was said on this matter.
Jamie Fitzhugh, secretary to the Saddleback Valley Unified School District superintendent, said the district doesn’t “have the technological capabilities to do so right now.”
However, Barsotti said live-streaming these meetings could be as simple as having a volunteer with a phone recording the meetings on a free social media platform in order for the public to have access to the school board meetings.
That notion was echoed by Matro.
“Creating the ‘necessary infrastructure’ could be as simple as setting up a tripod camera and connecting it to the internet,” she said. “There should be no excuse for not going live.”
Correction: The Saddleback Valley Unified School District was previously identified with an “F” rating, incorrectly stating that there was no way to request video or audio of their meetings. Officials there do allow people to listen to audio recordings at the school district or for $4 people can get a copy on a zip drive. We regret the error.
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