Catholic school board to consider broadcasting meetings

WATERLOO REGION — The Waterloo Catholic District School Board will consider broadcasting its board meetings for those who can’t make it in person.

The meetings had been broadcast through YouTube when trustees switched to virtual meetings in March 2020 due to pandemic restrictions around indoor gatherings.

In-person meetings resumed in August when the province eased limitations on the number of people allowed to gather inside.

Since then, the only option for members of the public is to attend a meeting in person at the board’s downtown Kitchener office.

Trustees supported a motion at Monday night’s meeting calling for a report on broadcasting board meetings, including such considerations as the cost and staff support needed, a policy for retaining the meeting recording, and potential privacy and liability concerns.

“Most boards didn’t really have a history of streaming meetings before the pandemic,” said director of education Loretta Notten. “I think we kind of have to dig into the questions that have been asked.”

Notten thinks people appreciated having access to the meetings when they were held virtually, but then there was no other way to watch. Meeting videos were not archived for later viewing, but instead streamed live while happening to be publicly accessible.

With the return to in-person meetings, “obviously there’s the option to attend in person as well,” Notten said. The motion acknowledged that attending in person “can be a barrier for many.”

For those who can’t make it out, there are social media posts by staff and trustees, sometimes those in the audience, while they’re going on and the board puts out a comprehensive summary with links to reports the next day.

“There are avenues for people to know what’s happening in meetings,” Notten said.

Board meetings typically aren’t well attended unless there’s a topic that generates more interest, such as a boundary review or school closure, she said.

A staff report will come back to the Nov. 22 board meeting, when a decision is expected.

“I’m sure we’ll land on a good and solid decision that will serve the community well,” Notten said.

Other school boards and municipal councils across Ontario, including in this region, broadcast their meetings.

The Waterloo Region District School Board continues to live steam its virtual board meetings and archive them on its YouTube page to watch later.

The board says on the meeting schedule page of its website: “Meetings will be live streamed as a means of facilitating meetings which are ‘open to the public,’ as required under s.207 of the Education Act.”