By James Hanlon
Leader Staff Writer
Oxford Community Schools have declined to share recordings of virtual school board meetings over the past year, after those meetings have ended. This has left some community members frustrated and concerned about a lack of transparency.
Prior to the pandemic, local access Oxford Community Television (OCTV) filmed and broadcasted the school board’s in-person meetings. Throughout the pandemic, other local government boards, such as the Oxford and Addison township boards of trustees, Oxford Village Council and Downtown Development Authority, have freely shared recordings of their virtual Zoom meetings with OCTV, but the school board has not done so.
“The Oxford Community School Board of Education holds meetings in public for the purpose of conducting the School District’s business, although this is not to be considered a public community meeting. It is a meeting of the Oxford Community School Board held in public,” explained Matt Johnson, Director of Communications and Marketing for Oxford Schools, in an email.
Because of COVID-19, updates to the Michigan Open Meetings Act allow public bodies, including school boards, to meet electronically. They are required to “post advance notice of a meeting held electronically . . . on a portion of the public body’s website that is fully accessible to the public.” The notice must clearly explain how members of the public may participate.
Public bodies are not required by law, however, to record the meeting or make meetings available to the public after the session has ended. “Therefore we had no need requirement to send links to OCTV,” he said. “Nor, at any point in time, have we been asked to send a link to anyone . . . YouTube Live is only to support a larger audience to avoid capacity limits within Zoom.”
Previous school board meetings remain on YouTube, however those videos are hidden, accessible only to those with the correct URL address.
“At this point, the . . . Board of Education has not made plans to proceed with live broadcasts or to record, upload, or store the meetings in any manner outside of our legal requirements,” Johnson said. “We believe this sets a precedent we cannot support human capital, especially since it is not a legal requirement. The nature of conducting the business of the district is challenging in a pandemic. This is a very fluid time in our educational climate, as we diligently work to make seated education our top priority.”
That answer doesn’t satisfy Addison Township resident Ron Renaud, who told this reporter, “We need transparency and why would they want to restrict people to learn what is going on in their school districts meetings?”
Renaud suggested putting a link to each meeting’s video under the “useful links” area of the district’s website. “They definitely have the resources as they record the ZOOM meeting and it’s only providing a link to its location,” he said.
At its December 2020 meeting, the school board discussed the possibility of livestreaming meetings once they return to meeting face-to-face. The topic was tabled because of the technical difficulties.
OCTV Production Manager Teri Stiles said as public bodies return to meeting in-person, OCTV plans to film every meeting they are invited to. The school board planned to return to meeting in-person at the Oxford High School Performing Arts Center after press time Tuesday, March 9.
Johnson added, “Per the by-laws established by Oxford Community Schools, we will always have the agenda packet posted on our website at least five days before the meeting. We do share our legal record of every meeting as recorded in the minutes. A video recording of the session is not considered a legal record. Please know all School Board related information can be found at oxfordschools.org/district/board_of_education.”