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Waukesha board adopts policy prioritizing live broadcasts and unedited archives
Summary
The School District of Waukesha Board of Education on Feb. 13 approved a new public information policy that makes broadcasting and recording meetings a board priority, requires retention of unedited recordings, and sets limited grounds and a process for editing posted recordings.
The School District of Waukesha Board of Education on Thursday voted to adopt Policy 91-20, establishing broadcasting and recording of board and committee meetings as a board priority and clarifying when recordings may be edited.
The policy, presented by Board member David Wadd and approved by the board, says recordings should be posted when technically practicable, that edited versions must be identified as edited, and that unedited originals will be retained by the district. Wadd moved the policy and Thomas Harland seconded; the motion passed on a roll-call vote of 9-0.
The board discussion focused on transparency and past concerns about edited recordings. Board member Mr. Webb described an incident in 2021 when a segment of a meeting was removed from the publicly posted recording and said the policy is intended to ensure ‘‘we will always be transparent about the recordings that we put out.’’ Superintendent (Doctor) Piasik and other board members said the district included language allowing edits in narrow circumstances — for example, to protect private student information — and that an identified group (the presiding officer, the superintendent and, where applicable, an officer of the board) would be involved in approval of edits.
Board members acknowledged there will be occasional technical failures that prevent live streaming. The policy states the district will not pause an otherwise open meeting to wait for technical fixes, but it does call for postponing a meeting if the meeting is not open to the public and technology to broadcast is not available. The board also directed that notices accompany edited recordings so viewers know they are not the unedited archives.
The board recorded its vote by roll call: Anthony Zenobia, Eric Brooks, Keri Kozlowski, Thomas Harland, Mark Borowski, Diane Voigt, Betty Koenig, David Wadd and Kelly Piasik all voted aye.
The policy was described as a response to community requests for clearer access and transparency for meetings and related public information sessions.
