Why House Bill 1210 matters for parents and the public
State legislators created the requirement to increase transparency and accountability.
“Parents, students, and the public often hear stories of what happened in a meeting, but often there is no primary record of it, and meeting minutes aren’t designed to capture discussion and context around board action,” said State Rep. Skyler Rude who introduced the legislation known as House Bill 1210. “This is a simple solution to allow working parents who can’t attend each board meeting to stay current on what’s happening.”
Recording requirements for school board meetings
Under the law, school districts must record all school board meetings where a final action is taken (i.e. a vote) or there is formal public testimony. The records must include each aspect of the board meeting, including any comments from board directors or public comment.
Immediate impacts of the new legislation
Each school district must make the recordings available upon request. Districts must not only record the meetings but store them for the required time.
Interested parents and guardians, teachers, and community members can submit a request for any recording available. By keeping these audio records, school board members might need to adjust protocols and will have a higher awareness of increased public scrutiny.
How to ensure compliance with House Bill 1210
While many school districts already record meetings in some way, they might need to make operational changes to ensure the proper capture and storage.
The state contains 295 school districts — some with as few as 10 students — and many might not have the appropriate technology in place.
The role of technology in meeting new recording standards
For more than a decade, local governments have trusted Swagit from Granicus to stream and record public meetings. Swagit allows local governments to fully outsource the operation and production of multi-camera broadcast for public meetings.
Benefits of Swagit from Granicus for School Districts
This service stores all recordings and makes them easily available to view on-demand, allowing Washington State school districts to meet the new requirements with almost no effort.
While compliance is important, Swagit goes the extra step to provide a comprehensive video and audio solution that offers stakeholders multiple ways to access public meetings.
SwagIt comes complete with 99.9% uptime, unlimited storage, free software upgrades, and free 24/7 customer service so staff can focus on meeting content instead of troubleshooting. It also adds accurate closed captioning created by a real person to enable participation by more members of your community.
Moving forward with enhanced transparency
The requirements of House Bill 1210 offer school districts an opportunity to enhance record keeping capabilities and transparency. This is a chance for school boards to adopt reliable video streaming solutions and enhance engagement with their communities.
If you are interested in learning more, contact us to start a conversation!
