Southmoreland board votes to end live streaming, censures member and authorizes FERPA complaint

The Southmoreland School District Board of Directors voted Sept. 16 to end live streaming of its meetings and instead post recordings within 24 hours, approved a censure resolution against Board Member Catherine Fike and authorized the district to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's student privacy office over conduct at the board's Sept. 16 meeting.

The actions followed an extended public-comment period in which multiple parents, former students and staff accused Fike of disclosing or weaponizing a current student's private health information during a prior meeting and called for her resignation.

Public commenters said the prior disclosure harmed student privacy and undermined trust in the district. "A minor child should not ever be called out during a public meeting and any private information should never be discussed in an open televised meeting," Janice Strom told the board. Former student Cole Yotsi said using a student's struggles "as a political tool" is "harmful." Several speakers specifically urged Fike to resign; others urged the board to take formal action to protect student privacy.

After public comment the board considered two linked agenda items on whether to stop live streaming meetings and whether to remove previously posted recordings from the district's public channel. An initial motion to end live streaming immediately failed on an early 4-4 roll call vote. Later in the meeting the board reconsidered, approved an amended motion to end live streaming immediately and require recorded meetings be posted within 24 hours, and tabled the separate agenda item that would have removed prior posted recordings.

The amended motion to stop live streaming and post recordings within 24 hours passed on roll call with five in favor and three opposed. Votes recorded in the meeting transcript were: Yes ' Mister Frond, Mrs. Geier, Mister Grabiak, Mister Shipley and Mister Yutze; No ' Mrs. O'Rear, Mister Olson and Mister Accipiter. The transcript shows the board subsequently agreed to send development of a detailed posting and editing policy to the policy committee, which is scheduled to meet Oct. 13.

The board then added and approved Resolution No. 2025202601, calling for the censure of Catherine Fike for alleged violations of district policy over her conduct at the Sept. 16 meeting. A roll-call vote recorded in the minutes shows seven board members voting yes and one voting no (one member absent). After that vote the board authorized district administration to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Family Policy Compliance Office regarding possible violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Separately, the board voted to remove Fike from her assignments to the personnel, policy and academics committee and to remove her as the district's designated WIU representative, effective immediately. The board then appointed Stephanie Geier as the district's WIU representative.

Board members and speakers repeatedly framed the actions as efforts to protect student privacy and district personnel, while some public commenters argued removing livestreaming would reduce transparency. "It's not fair to punish us for the blurred lines ... We have board members wearing their school director hat and then coming and wearing their parent hat," Melissa Moore said during public comment.

The transcript shows significant disagreement among board members over how to balance transparency and privacy protections. Several members said they prefer recorded-but-not-live meetings so the district can edit or withhold material that would disclose protected student or personnel information before posting. The board directed the policy committee to develop detailed guidelines for editing and posting recordings, with legal guidance cited for situations implicating FERPA or health privacy regulations.

The board's actions at this meeting were limited to censure, committee removals, the WIU appointment and authorizing the filing of a FERPA-related complaint; the transcript contains no record of removing Fike from office or of any disciplinary action beyond the censure and committee removals. The transcript also records that Dr. Fike was absent from the meeting.

The district will present policy-committee recommendations at a future board meeting; the policy committee is scheduled to meet Oct. 13.