Ziegler continues push for televising workshops

In the spirit of the Sunshine Law, Sarasota School Board incumbent Bridget Ziegler wants the board to make it easier for taxpayers to access recorded workshops.

Ziegler brought the matter before both the school board and the Sarasota County Commission publicly during their joint meeting Sept. 30, just more than a month before her November election against Ken Marsh for the District 1 seat.

Ziegler published a draft of her meeting remarks, including a graphic comparing the current method of televising the meetings to sunny and cloudy weather (a nod to the Sunshine Law), on her campaign website.

Ziegler called for the school board to update its technology; she pointed to the Sarasota County Commission’s software system as a good model to follow.

“Streaming allows us to be proactive to let people listen,” she said during the school board’s workshop Tuesday. “It’s a technological age.”

Currently, the semi-monthly school board meetings held in the board chambers are televised on Comcast and Verizon and are streamed online.

The workshops preceding the meetings are handled differently. The morning section of the workshop, held in the chambers, is broadcasted. The afternoon portion held in a smaller conference room before the regular meeting, however, is only audio-recorded. The public can request a free DVD from the school board to listen to any workshop or meeting.

These methods all fall under proper Sunshine Law, but Ziegler said she’s never received a clear answer as to why all meetings aren’t recorded and televised.

At Tuesday’s workshop, board members confronted Ziegler about the graphic on her website.

“We are not in violation of any laws, and your graphic makes it seem that way,” said board Chairwoman Jane Goodwin.

Ziegler told the Sarasota Observer Wednesday that the other board members are misinterpreting the graphic. Although the process follows the Sunshine Law, she said the board’s actions don’t uphold the spirit of the law.

“There’s nothing outside the reality of what happens — nothing there is false,” she said.

Superintendent Lori White told the school board in Tuesday’s workshop that some communication technology updates were scheduled in the capital budget already — $150,000 is allocated for upgrading outdated recording equipment.

After the older equipment is updated, she said, then they can revisit a long-term funding plan for more recording methods.

“We’ll see the numbers and bring it back to the board,” White said. “There are some things we can do, but not all in one year.”

Currently, White said, it takes three employees to man the system during the regular board meetings: two in the chambers to work the cameras, check equipment and troubleshoot, and one at the Sarasota County Technical Institute broadcasting station to oversee transmission.

In addition, one to two IT employees assist at the meetings. The labor costs the district about $115 an hour during the televised meetings; if the meetings run long, the cost increases to include overtime. The district does not have to pay for airtime on television.

Additional staff would be needed to record both portions of the workshop and the meeting, White said. And, without buying additional equipment, it would take at least an hour for staff to move and set up the equipment from the chambers into the conference room.

As for getting a program like Granicus, which Sarasota County uses to videotape and broadcast its meetings, cost is the biggest concern, White said. The school board and the county held discussions a few years ago about looking into the possibility of sharing the system or paying to use the software, but at the time the school district budget was undergoing too many cuts.

This is the first year the budget hasn’t been significantly cut and the district could begin again to cautiously investigate better technology, White said.

Although none of the board members completely opposed the idea of broadcasting meetings, Goodwin said she didn’t want the afternoon session to be held in the chambers.

The smaller conference room is open to the public, but the informal setting allows the board members to discuss more freely their thoughts on different items or bring up topics for consideration, Goodwin said.

“This venue helps us come together more. … This gives us a chance to get to know each other and discuss,” she said.

Goodwin added that she would, however, like the board to have a better way to stream and archive sessions.

“We’re supposed to work together and be on a team,” Brown said. “These informal workshops help us be a team.”

Ziegler, however, disagrees.

“I don’t know why a camera should change their demeanor,” she said. “It makes it more comfortable for them, and that’s not what’s important. Our highest priority is making sure the community can see our discussion.”

System Comparison
Sarasota County uses a software system called Granicus to stream recorded meetings and workshops online and store videos in an archive library.

The cost to use this program is:

• a $1,500-per-month contract with Granicus for streaming and archiving videos, video central on the home page (Access Sarasota and Live TV pages) and for the county clerk’s program for meeting minutes.

• $30,000 to $40,000 per year of in-house costs for four county servers needed to process the recordings.

• Two county employees to provide video coverage during the meeting.

Bridget Ziegler posted this graphic on her campaign website to illustrate why she thought the procedure for televised Sarasota School Board meetings and workshops met the Sunshine Law requirements but did not follow the spirit of the law.