School board considers live video stream

LACONIA — The local school board, which often holds meetings that fail to attract an audience, is considering putting its proceedings on a video stream that would appear live on a local public access channel.

Grace McNamara, station manager at Lakes Region Public Access, is putting together a proposal on how much it would cost to make the change. The issue is to be considered by the board on Nov. 20.

The Laconia School Board meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the school district administration building at 39 Harvard St. Its meetings are videotaped and replayed later on public access Channel 24.

If the meetings were livestreamed, in addition to being available when they are held, they could be seen, even by non-cable subscribers, via an internet link.

District Superintendent Brendan Minnihan said it’s not clear how much public interest there would be in a livestream of the school board meetings.

“I don’t know how much public involvement it would bring about,” he said.

Interest now is sparse.

“Sometimes there’s nobody; sometimes there are a few people there,” he said. “Sometimes we have presentations from outside groups.”

McNamara said there would be a yearly live stream service cost of $900. Also, each camera used to record a meeting would have to be upgraded with a $500 piece of equipment.

Municipal meetings in Belmont, Gilford, Laconia, Meredith and Northwood are broadcast on Lakes Region Public Access.

Laconia City Council, Zoning Board and Planning Board meetings are also available on YouTube, usually a few days after they occur.