$50K to move board meetings?

The Sun Prairie school board is inching ever closer to its targeted goal line - to move the location of its meetings from the City Municipal building to the District Office.

Of course, making such a move is going to cost money: at least $45-50,000.

Alternative 1: Cost: $50,,000 + Cable connection to library for TV broadcasting. Move School Board meetings to Room 100 at the District Office, and duplicate the equipment at City Hall

Alternative 2: Cost: $34,000 + Cable connection to library for TV broadcasting. Move School Board meetings to Room 100 at the District Office, but with less equipment than is at City Hall.

Alternative 3: Cost: $ 350. Install wireless network access at City Hall for School Board meetings.

Why they'll tell you it won't cost this much.
The Partial Truth police are on full alert. The costs of various items are not all incorporated into the original figures on the FTT Situation report.

Concerns that neither the board nor the FTT committee has adequately addressed.

• Given the economy and the projected rise in budget as is, why move meetings from City Hall? $50,000 would pay for a position or a lot of textbooks.


• Aren't we supposed to have a "partnering relationship" with the City and City Council? Why would we NOT want to share a facility?


• The board keeps preaching streaming video over the Internet for its meetings rather than cable, and the fact that many residents don't have access to KSUN-TV. Great. But how many people have a slower Internet connection...like, say, a phone modem...and will never be able to watch streaming video coherently.


• This whole proposal is linked to the board's previous purchase of BoardDocs software and laptop computers for all board members. The school district has demonstrated a less than stellar comprehension of Internet technology. Do we REALLY want to sink more $$$ into this project before we really see how it works?


• District staff lack technological savvy. The District currently pays someone to scan existing documents (which are nearly always created with Microsoft Office software) and put them into an Adobe Acrobat Reader file (PDF) as IMAGES..rather than searchable test. Not only does this make board packages phenomenally large ( have you tried to download one?) but it is completely user UNfriendly because one cannot search through the documents to find the information one seeks.


• The BoardDocs software is only a tool. The end user has to make the tool effective. Currently the School Board's website lacks any sense of organization. Sure...you can find minutes from school board meeting from the 1990's. But how does one find contracts like those for to find out what we are paying personnel? How does one find information associated with past decisions...particularly contentious ones? If we can't organize files on the existing website, it won't happen with BoardDocs either.
• Has anyone given any thought to how this BoardDocs and meetings over the web will work for people with accessibility problems: hearing impaired? visual impaired?

Technology is great. But technology opens up a whole new set of doors behind which are a whole host of issues that need to be addressed. All that costs more money.