Recordings of Everett School Board meetings to be posted on Web faster

Audio recordings of Everett School Board meetings will now be posted on the school district’s website quicker than in the past.

The school board has approved having the audio recordings posted as early as the next day.

Until now, the recordings weren’t posted until the minutes of the meeting had been officially approved at the next meeting, generally two weeks later.

“I was pushing for that for two years,” said Jessica Olson, a school board member who has clashed with fellow board members over her practice of video recording meetings and then posting excerpts online.

“There was no reason for them to wait for the official meeting minutes to be approved,” she said. “I applaud them for finally coming to their senses … It was just stubbornness on their part.”

Ed Petersen, school board president, said that a number of people had asked for quicker posting of the audio recordings of meetings. “This is another way for us to be responsible and open to the community,” he said.

Superintendent Gary Cohn said the school board’s authorization to post the audio recordings used the words “as early as the day following that board meeting” because “we didn’t want to set ourselves up for criticism” if technical glitches or other problems interfered with getting the audio recordings posted.

“I think we’ll have a target of getting it up the next day, but not a goal,” Petersen said.

The audio recording of the school board’s Nov. 8 meeting was posted the next day on the school district’s website.

Petersen said the school board will be considering the possibility of live broadcasts of school board meetings when its new administration building opens.

The building, estimated to cost $23.3 million, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013.

The 62,000-square-foot building will be constructed on school district property at the south end of Everett Memorial Stadium on Broadway near 41st Street.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com