Kilgore ISD to consider video conference meetings

Technology might change how school board meetings are conducted in an East Texas school district.

The Kilgore ISD school board will meet tonight to discuss a new piece of legislation that allows trustees to conduct meetings via video conference call.

Superintendent Cara Cooke said the district’s discussion is strictly informational; however, the recent law opens the door for the video meeting software.

“A lot of districts are shying away from it because it brings so many other unknowns, but it is something we will talk about,” Cooke said. “Somebody’s going to be first.”

Cooke said trustees asked for more information about the policy, so she is bringing it to them.

“They want to know what it says, what it looks like so they can have a discussion about it,” Cooke said.

The legal policy states that if a school district does not extend into three or more counties, a meeting can be held via video conference server call if a quorum of the board is physically present at one location of the meeting. Kilgore ISD is divided between Gregg and Rusk counties.

The policy goes on to state that a meeting held by video conference call is subject to the notice requirements that are applicable to other meetings in addition to requirements specifically for a video conferencing server call. The notice of a meeting in which a video conference call is being conducted must specify the location where a quorum of the board will be physically present and specify that the quorum will be at that location. The notice must also state where board members will be located, and each of the locations must be open to the public during open portions of the meeting.

Each location must have two-way communication, and while each person is speaking he or she must be visible to all members of the board and to the general public, the policy states.

Audio of online web meeting, according to the policy, must be recorded and must be made available to the public as any other meeting would be.

Article Source: Kilgore ISD to consider video conference meetings