Note: In my response below, I believed the SBNC leadeship’s promise that the webcast of the Jan. 7 SBNC meeting would be posted by last Monday. Shame on me. As of Thursday, January 14, 2014 at 9:05 pm, the webcast still hadn’t been posted on the SBNC website.
Capital Article
Huang, Cindy, Four school board candidates recommended to Gov. Hogan, Capital, January 7, 2016.
Snider Comment and Replies to Other Comments
Snider
All eleven SBNC commissioners have now shown up for the last two SBNC meetings, which is an improvement over the last two election cycles. The one minor exception is that the community college representative showed up late at both meetings.
dtritchie
@Snider really that is all you have to say about this. Not upset it wasn’t televised or live streamed.
Snider Reply
The meeting was televised but not made available live due partly to the room chosen. According to SBNC officials, the webcast will be posted online next Monday. I have not gotten a clear response about whether future meetings will be broadcast live. The theory proposed by SBNC officials was that it was unfair for the other candidates to hear the questions addressed to the earlier candidates. If the meeting is shown live, then the later candidates get to benefit from listening to the responses of the earlier candidates and that’s unfair to the earlier candidates. Even assuming that that is a fair argument, I would have preferred to see the webcast posted immediately after the meeting or, even better, immediately after the candidate presentations. A four day wait seems needlessly long to me. School Board Member Ritchie, thanks for acknowledging my decade-long role in getting both the Board of Education and SBNC meetings not only televised but available online. I, along with other county taxpayers, pay $1/month on my cable/FIOS bill for PEG (public, educational, and government) access TV. It’s nice to see that money used as it was originally intended rather than as an IT and PR slush fund.
bucketlist
@Snider The time of the meeting was not listed on the website. Applicant resumes/applications were not available on line until the day of the meeting.The meeting was not broadcast live. Previous candidates also had a meeting where public comment was solicited – these candidates were voted on immediately with no public comment. I think everyone should be appalled at the lack of transparency and public disclosure with this process.
Snider Reply
The website is abysmal. But there is no news in that. For example, we still don’t have minutes for 2013, 2014, the second election of 2015, and many other scattered minutes besides. Posting public notice and accompanying documents at the last minute or not at all is endemic with both AACPS and SBNC. I’ve never heard the public complain about these problems or even notice that they exist. For the vast majority of the public, they are considered trivial issues and treated as such. Nevertheless, I agree it’s a shame. There will be some legislation in the Maryland General Assembly to reduce the incentives for such shenanigans, but I doubt they will pass and even if they did would only make a tiny dent. At the end of the day, if people don’t care, change doesn’t happen.