Recently, a patron requested that USD 327 return to livestreaming its board of education meetings.

We have two words for that: Yes, please! As a community newspaper, we are always in favor of open, available meetings. We will always encourage and advocate for them.

That isn’t to say our current meetings are closed — they are absolutely public and open. But could they be more accessible? Yes.

Perhaps before COVID-19, we wouldn’t have thought much of it. We didn’t necessarily expect our meetings in Ellsworth to be livestreamed. Yet, with the myriad of changes COVID brought, for better or worse, it made streaming and digital meetings more mainstream.

We applaud and thank all of the entities who embraced technology during the shutdown to make meetings available to the public. Yet, as meetings resume in-person and masks seem a less essential daily accessory, we would like to encourage our taxing entities to continue to provide online access to meetings.

Does this have to be fancy with a myriad of bells and whistles? Absolutely not. It can be as simple as the Oct. 10 Sylvan-Lucas Unified Schools’ board meeting that was livestreamed on Facebook. We were there. It wasn’t fancy. There weren’t special lights. There were no additional microphones. It was as simple as a cell phone on a tripod.

While the City of Ellsworth continues to provide meetings via its website, USD 327 ceased doing so at the end of June.

The shifting of board members and lack of personnel to run the equipment is understandable, yet a quick trip to 327’s website tells another story. The district’s website promotes its livestream of sporting events, and it’s not limited to varsity events. Both junior varsity and junior high events are also livestreamed.

We realize this is a service parents absolutely appreciate, especially because some of those games are during working hours. We applaud the district for helping making these events more available to parents.

Yet there are more junior high, junior varsity and varsity sporting events in a month than there are school board meetings. Is it really not possible to stream a meeting where elected officials make decisions about how to spend tax dollars?

The stream doesn’t have to be fancy. No bells or whistles are necessary. No fancy microphones or lighting are essential. Simply access to these meetings.

Karen Bonar Publisher

There are more junior high and junior varsity and varsity sporting events in a month than there are school board meetings. Is it really not possible to stream a meeting where elected officials make decisions about how to spend tax dollars?