As someone who believes about openness and transparency in government, I am calling on the Herricks Board of Education to start live streaming their public meetings and post them online as a way to give residents who can’t attend meetings a chance to see what our elected board members do or to see what the board discusses and/or decides on a major topic such as the budget.
Other benefits include preventing misinformation among people and taping the meetings removes the curtain between the residents and board and helps it be more open, transparent and accountable to the public since people who aren’t at the meeting will be able to watch it online and see how the board acts at its meetings.
I find it amazing that for a Board of Education and Administration that prides itself on being open and transparent with its residents that this hasn’t been done yet. While they do provide written minutes of the meetings, you have to wait till the next meeting for the previous meeting’s minutes to be approved and posted on the district website and from my own experience at meetings many times they don’t tell the full story of what was discussed.
While nothing replaces actually going to the meeting, there are many people who can’t make the 7:30 Thursday night meeting and videotaping the meetings and putting them online would help to better inform the public on major items they’re concerned about and in the long run get people more involved and understanding of what their school board does.
I really can’t see why anyone would be against this because we deserve openness and transparency in our local governments since we’re affected by everything they do.
Richard D’Orazi
Manhasset Hills
