Still Working On It: Bernards School Board Aims to Televise Meetings

The topic of televising Board of Education meetings has come up again in the board's preliminary discussion on goals to set up for the upcoming school year. The consensus of school officials was — whether as a formal goal or not — to continue working toward a way of televising meetings for the public.

"I'm definitely not fond of reality TV...but I would like to continue the effort," said Board Member Priti Shah. She said she feels that televising school board members for the public to watch is "the right thing to do."

The issue came up last fall, when Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said that the school district would work on technical issues.

Last year, Markarian said there was a problem with sound when trying to televise meetings of the school board, which unlike the Township Committee, meets at different locations within township schools and occasionally, as last week, in the district administrative offices at 101 Peachtree Road.

At one point, the board of education was televised briefly, but without sound, Markarian said.

The Bernards Township Committee has been televised live for several years on a community access channel on Cablevision of Raritan Valley. The township committee's agenda also includes video links to certain subjects once the meeting has taken place.

"As long as the board wants us to pursue [this], we will work out the details and make it happen," Markarian said.

Board Member William Koch said he wouldn't necessarily put televising meetings on the board and school district's formal goal list, but he said that by now, "It's just a matter of implementation."

Board Member Elaine Kusel said that televising meetings could be really helpful for the community. She said she remembers what it is like to have small children, and not to be able to attend meetings.

The board also discussed potential goals, such as setting up a "pathway" toward creating an overall strategic plan for the district.

If board members decide to create such a plan — that would include input from the public — Board President Susan McGowan said it likely would be compiled in the 2014-15 school year. She said that the board would keep cost in mind when doing such a plan.

"If the pathway [to the strategic plan] costs more than a teacher, I don't support it," Shah said.