ZAP! #75
If the ISD board of trustees really believe that the public should be aware of all their actions and activities, then someone needs to inform the administration (superintendent?) about correcting all the televised meeting problems...especially the sound aspect.
Since IISD meetings are produced and aired by ISD staff, the district is responsible for resolving production problems internally. And if you have ever attempted to view a work session meeting, you will note: static rear-view camera angles that make it difficult to determine who is actually speaking most of the time; and poor microphone placement that tends to muffle comments by most of the speakers. Having board members sitting around a ‘communal’ table does little to enhance the public’s ability to watch, follow or comprehend the discussions at hand.
Additionally, the lighting for work session meetings is very poor...almost like the board is attempting to meet in the dark so that no one can see them in action/inaction.
In addition to these problems, the production sound volume in the airing of all meetings is in desperate need of fixing (calibration?). To hear any of the discussions, viewers have to crank up their TV sets to a very high range. This same problem exist when watching a regularly scheduled meeting of the board.
Perhaps, the individual responsible for producing the ISD meetings should stay at home one month and watch the proceedings (work session and regular meeting) on his/her TV set. This would provide the individual with the opportunity to observe what many district patrons have expressed for some time.
While not a TV critic or production engineer (we just comment like one), here is a summary of what would make watching the board meetings a little more tolerable...at least from the standpoint of viewing and hearing. (The staff of the CCR reserves the right to be intolerable when it comes to the actual decisions made by the Floundering Five.)
- Better camera framing when individuals are speaking
- Increase sound output transmission to viewer sets
- Efficient (additional?) microphone placements for work session meetings
Lights, camera….rubber stamp action!
……………...Mark Holbrook
