ZIEGLER REMARKS - September 30, 2014

 

 

DRAFT REMARKS from Bridget Ziegler during the join Sarasota County Commission - School Board meeting

 

Ziegler urges the School Board to televise all meetings and to provide access for

taxpayers, parents and students to watch recordings of their School Board

 

I would like to thank the Members of the County Commission for hosting us for this important meeting. It’s vital that both the Sarasota County Commission and Sarasota County School Board work together to ensure that our children are provided with the best education possible.

 

As you know, having been appointed this past June, I’m a new member to the Sarasota County School Board. It’s been a great honor to serve the public and it’s been an unbelievable experience so far.

 

When appointed, I promised that I would work to increase parental and public involvement with our schools and make us as transparent as possible.

 

With that in mind, I have been surprised that during our workshops, the chair stops the televised portion of the workshop. We then move to another building, on another floor, in much smaller conference room, where the continued workshop is not easily available to the public, is not televised, and is not regularly attended by the public and covered by the press.

 

There the real debate happens.

 

This is reflected in very short Board meetings, as everything has already been debated in these untelevised workshops. I realize that this may be technically within the Sunshine laws, but it certainly does not reflect the spirit of the law.

 

This must change if we mean what we say about transparency and public involvement.

 

Equally concerning is that the School Board fails to broadcast all of our workshop meetings and we currently lack the ability to record and post meetings online - in an online library.

 

With an annual budget of over $700 Million, I believe that the taxpayers should have full access to School Board meetings.

 

Since the Sarasota County Commission broadcasts all meetings to the public as well as records and posts those meetings online, I would appreciate if we could have the County IT staff work directly with the School Board IT staff to look into options for broadcasting ALL School Board workshops, as well as options for recording & providing an online library of our meetings for taxpayers, parents, teachers and students to view at their own leisure.

 

Thank you again for hosting this meeting & please feel free to reach out if I can ever be of assistance or if you ever have any feedback or recommendations about education in Sarasota County.