(Sept. 26, 2006) -- The LB Unified School District Board of Education has voted 5-0 to begin televising their meetings at the first possible opportunity -- potentially as soon as the Oct. 3 School Board meeting -- using LBUSD-TV staff and possibly LBUSD students taking District TV classes, whichever works fastest.

The motion by School Boardmember Dr. David Barton, backed by Boardmember Michael Ellis, was embraced by Board president Jon Meyer and Boardmember Mary Stanton...who previously served on Boards that didn't support televising meetings...but (following this year's election of Barton and Ellis) both stressed that televising the board's meetings should begin as soon as possible.

The suggestion of having LBUSD television-class students participate in delivering the telecasts was advanced by Boardmember Barton, noting the student experience would be educational (civics), provide real-life media experience...and would be economical.

An LBUSD-TV staffer testified against using student crews and instead recommended installing robotic cameras (the costliest option). He cited superior production values and his concern that students might not find covering a School Board meeting sufficiently challenging.

The Board directed LBUSD-TV staff to crew the telecasts, with student participation as staff wished...with the priority to get the telecasts started without further delay.

At the urging of Boardmember Williams, the Board will evaluate productions after about two months to see if other options might be appropriate.