Melissa Bailey Photo
As New Haven proceeds with school reform 2.0, Migdalia Castro wants more New Haveners to tune in to the workings of the school board. Truly tune in.
That may soon happen.
Castro (pictured), a Fair Haven alderwoman, decided that the Board of Education should televise its biweekly meetings, the way the Board of Aldermen’s meetings air on Citizens Television (CTV).
“With school change and a new superintendent, this should be the time we do complete transparency,” Castro said. “It’s the right time.”
Castro made the same argument in a letter to Board of Ed President Carlos Torre. Twenty-five fellow aldermen signed the letter. (Click here to read it.)
She also forwarded the request to CTV — and CTV said yes.
CTV is planning to begin televising the meetings on Aug. 12 with ” playback on Channel 96 scheduled within 24 hours of recording,” reported CTV Executive Director Joseph Schofield. No other area community has sought to have board of ed meetings televised, he said.
That’s the first the school board President Torre has heard of it.
He said the school board would first have to discuss having CTV televise the meeting. He said he’d like to see that happen.
“I think it’s a good idea” to air the meetings, Torre told the Independent. “We haven’t talked to them at all. If they show up, I guess we talk to them at that point and figure it out. There’s nothing secret. …
“We need to talk about it [as a board]. I don’t think we can make a decision until the end of August. Saying that we say yes, it probably wouldn’t happen until September.”
Told about Torre’s remarks, Schofield said, “We would like to start then, but we won’t just show up without touching base with him.”
Melissa Bailey Photo
Torre (pictured) said he’d also like to see the board experiment with several ways to increase public involvement beyond airing meetings on TV. He suggested reviving an idea from more than a decade ago, when the school board invited experts to address board meetings on subjects like nutrition and helping kids with homework. Those events drew crowds, Torre said.
He was asked whether he thinks the live-TV version of the Board of Ed will more resemble American Idol or The Sopranos.
“I don’t think it will be like any of them,” Torre responded. “I think it will be more on the serious side — serious in a good way, not boring. We’re going to be dealing with very serious issues, very important issues to everybody: Are we going to have recess in school? Are there going to be students on the board? What’s the process?”
CTV should also televise the BOA meetings too so people can see what goes on there - oh, and also the private little caucus meeting prior to public meetings where the votes are fixed. That would be very useful information to have. We should be fully engaged in City Hall reform.