Televise School Committee Meetings!

By TOM DUGGAN
PAYING ATTENTION

During the School Committee election earlier this year, a candidate named Paula Porten advocated the televising of School Committee meetings so that the public has better access to the inner workings of the school system. The Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Allan and several School Committee members were against the idea and when Porten lost the election the idea of televising meetings lost along with her. The public also lost out.

Allan says that instead of televising meetings he would rather publish a School Committee newsletter. My only question here is, who is kidding whom? By allowing the Superintendent to publish a newsletter about the inner workings of your schools you can bet the public will not get an open look at what is really going on. A newsletter will cost money and man hours to publish, while televising meetings will cost the town nothing. In fact, when Porten originally proposed the idea someone came forward to volunteer their time to run the camera at every meeting.

A School Committee meeting is a public forum that every citizen should be able to watch on television. If members of the committee do not want to give the public an uncensored view of what happens when they deliberate how to spend your money it leaves us with the impression that they have something to hide.

For example, earlier this year the School Committee debated whether to send students on a field trip to New York. The principal of the school couldn’t tell the board, or more accurately wouldn’t tell the board, how much money this trip was going to cost. Without knowing how much of your money was being spent to finance this trip, the School Committee approved the trip anyway. The press did report on this issue, but a first hand viewing of this debate would have stirred up a lot more interest in the community than a second hand account in the paper.

Many town residents do not have the time or opportunity to go down and sit through hours of discussions about the school system. Shouldn’t they have the right to put on their television sets and see these discussions at their own convenience? In Lawrence, the City Council and School Committee meetings are televised live and then rebroadcast each night in case interested residents can’t sit in front of the television on the night of the meeting.

This provides the people of Lawrence a better understanding of how their city government works and indeed, encourages more participation in local government. It educates the average citizen and at election time, these televised meetings make the behavior of elected officials just as relevant as where they stand on issues.

The individuals who get elected to represent you in town government are there to work for the tax payers and the voters. They make crucial decisions about how to raise and spend tax money to provide services to the town. Everything they do in their capacity as elected officials is done on behalf of the residents, therefor the meetings they hold should be televised for all the residents to see.

While I commend the board of selectmen for televising their meetings, it would certainly serve the public better if they were rebroadcast each night for residents who miss the meeting when it is broadcast live. But at least the board of selectmen gives live access to the work they do on behalf of the town. Shamefully, the School Committee cannot say the same.

Giving the public access to the inner workings of town government can only have a more positive effect on the direction of the town. When the people who are paying the bills have limited access to public officials it breeds an environment of apathy and distrust. The people of North Andover should take this issue very seriously. It is an issue of fair and free access to public information. Remember, these people work for you, if you let them sweep things under the rug there is no telling who they are really working for.


Tom Duggan hosts the Paying Attention! Radio program on WCCM every Saturday afternoon from noon to 2 p.m. and the Paying Attention! television program on Channel 8 cable access in Andover, North Andover, Lawrence and Methuen.

Watch MetroWest Daily News managing editor Joe Dwinell's live report on WB-56 every Thursday and Friday at 7:45 a.m.

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