03-06-03: Library to carry school board tapes

03-06-03: Library to carry school board tapes

By LANCE MIHM
The Daily Standard

    ST. MARYS - Videotapes of the St. Marys City Schools board meetings soon will be on the shelf at the community library.
    The library board of trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved allowing the tapes to be checked out by the public. The tapes will be provided by the Roughrider Focus Group, a parent group that has been working to get the community more involved in school board decisions.
    "I think it will be a good resource for the public that doesn't have a chance to get to the meetings," Focus Group secretary Sandy Dove said.
    The group, which became an official nonprofit organization earlier this year, had approached the board several times about video taping the meetings and possibly airing them on the local access cable station. But board members refused to do so, saying the money spent on airing the meetings could be better spent elsewhere.
    Dove then announced the group would begin taping the school board meetings, and last month asked the library board to make the tapes available to the public through the library.
    "A lot of people cannot get to the meetings," Dove said. "We want to make the meetings accessible to anyone who wants to view them."
    Dove said the first meeting the group will tape will be on March 12. She hopes to have the tapes available the following Monday after each meeting.
    St. Marys City Schools Superintendent Paul Blaine said the school board was willing to back whatever decision the library board made.
    "We had absolutely no objection to the library making the tapes available to the public," Blaine said. "We appreciate the careful way the board came to the decision."

SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY STANDARD

Phone: (419)586-2371, Fax: (419)586-6271
All content copyright 2003
The Standard Printing Company
P.O. Box 140, Celina, OH 45822