School board meetings now shown live on TV
BY JENNIFER AMATO Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK - The Board of Education has begun broadcasting its monthly public meetings live from the Old Maple Meade building on Old Georges Road.

Through a township vendor's agreement with Cablevision, the school board can use a fiber optic cable from the board office to the high school, allowing feed to be streamed over the Internet from the building to a computer at the school. The first live board meeting was broadcast on Oct. 11.

"I think people want to believe their government, their Boards of Ed., and no doubt what's going on is being recorded. When you throw a delay in there, obviously there is some editing. Here, what you see is what you get. People feel connected," Superintendent Brian Zychowski said. "We want to be able to connect with the community in a consistent fashion with full disclosure so the community can assess the job we're doing."

There are two cameras on loan from Scott Logan, the district's network administrator, one camera from high school teacher Carol Marks and a recording device from Logan to archive the program. This will enable more angled shots, closeups of speakers and a better sound recording system.

Zychowski also said this allows people to watch from home and during a point of interest, decide to come out to the meeting if they would like to voice their opinion on a current topic while it is being discussed.

"Now members of the public who can't make meetings can certainly watch them as they happen," said board Vice President Neil Malvone, who campaigned on the issue of televising board meetings two years ago. "The type of stuff we do needs an instantaneous message to go out to the public … so from our perspective, things change quickly and the public has a right to see that change as it happens."

To ensure this quickness of changes, despite a 20-second delay, Marks will have her TV Production 3 students film the meetings as part of a class requirement, which has them videotape a township event once each quarter.

"From my viewpoint it is a wonderful experience for them," Marks said. "It's just different when it's real to them."

The meetings will now begin at 7:30 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. because, "we want to bring the kids and the staff members out to keep us grounded," Zychowski said. In order to provide an environment in which both students and employees can be recognized for their achievements, the superintendent said the earlier time allows everyone to go home early to prepare for the following school day.

The board also thanked Roy Minieri, the township station manager for Cable Channel 15, for his assistance. Zychowski said he hopes in the future to bring the equipment to other events, such as sports games, concerts and graduation.