Committee debates reopening district social media and restoring more complete meeting records

Policy Committee members spent substantial time on communications policy, focusing on Policy 816 (social media) and how the district records minutes.

Director Cheswick reopened Policy 816 by noting the district had changed social accounts to a non‑public forum and proposing a review: "This was changed ... to a non public forum. This would include all district social media pages," she said. Several directors said they were wary of opening pages to unmoderated public posts; one board member proposed a compromise that keeps social pages non‑public but appends a clearly labeled link/form for public inquiries and an automatic response promising follow‑up within 24–48 hours. Board staff member Sydney agreed to monitor messages and said she could prototype the form and auto‑reply: "I'll get that together. I'll start tomorrow."

The group also revisited the minutes policy, weighing near‑verbatim minutes against summarized minutes plus readily available transcripts. Several directors said PSBA recommends summary minutes; others said YouTube produces a usable transcript that could be linked from the district website. Ginny Orr, the board secretary, said she would continue preparing concise minutes but supported linking video and transcript files so the public can access the fuller record. The committee agreed in principle to post Ginny's meeting summaries alongside a download link to the meeting video and the auto‑generated transcript so members of the public can both read a concise record and access a verbatim audio transcript if needed.

Members set follow‑up tasks: staff were asked to prototype the social‑media contact form and auto‑reply, to identify a backup monitor for Sydney, and for the board secretary to test procedures for linking transcripts and videos to the board minutes page.