NEWARK – The Worcester County Board of Education is expected to begin livestreaming meetings next month.
Superintendent Lou Taylor announced last week that beginning in January, school board meetings would be livestreamed. He encouraged those who wanted to tune in to remember the January meeting would be the first one in this format.
“I ask for everyone to please be patient,” Taylor said.
In recent months, citizens in attendance at board meetings have asked officials to consider livestreaming and/or evening meetings to give working parents a chance to be involved. Following Taylor’s announcement last week, Annette Wallace, the school system’s chief operating and academic officer for grades nine through 12, confirmed that the school system would be using Zoom to provide a livestream of the meeting.
“Folks will be able to log on,” she said.
The public will be provided with Zoom login information prior to each meeting. In addition, after the meeting, the video will be uploaded and accessible under the “BoardDocs” tab on the school system’s website. Wallace said the transition should be smooth because the school system had used Zoom before and nothing more than bringing a web camera to the boardroom would be required as far as installation.
She said the school system was adding the livestream because there had been requests from the public and because it would allow parents to tune in to see their students get recognized during board meetings. She pointed out that since the pandemic began, the board has been providing the public with the ability to call in to listen to meetings.
“There’s nothing that people weren’t already hearing,” she said.
She added that with more and more organizations offering virtual meetings it was important for the school system to keep up with the times.
“We’re excited about this,” she said.