A decision at the Mars Area School Board on Tuesday, March 12, to eliminate virtual participation in school board meetings and limit how long people can watch the recordings is troubling to those who value public voices in government.

During the meeting, district superintendent Mark Gross argued there were security concerns with allowing participation via Zoom, saying the district can’t verify the people are who they say they are.

While that is true, it’s hard to see it as a serious security issue, because the district has functioned successfully since 2020 without being able to verify the identify of someone participating virtually.

Why is it a problem now? And what harm would such a person be able to cause?

It’s very clear the harm stopping virtual participation will cause, though. The move eliminates the ability for some people with disabilities or those dealing with serious health issues, to participate in school board meetings.

And that point was made to the board Tuesday. Community resident Beth Ziegler told the board that the decision to stop virtual participation will cut those with health problems out of the conversation.

“I wish we could have figured out a way to lower barriers to participate in these public meetings, instead of making it harder for some people,” she said.

Another serious issue is the board’s decision to only post YouTube videos of board meetings for a week. During Tuesday’s meeting, the suggestion was made that after a week, people could review the minutes from the meeting on the district’s website, which is also publicly available.

But as community resident Matthew Evans, who addressed the board Tuesday, noted, minutes are not the same as a recording of the meeting.

“ (Meeting) minutes are great, but a lot of times, like with curriculum presentations, you miss a lot of that stuff from just reading the minutes,” he said.

It isn’t clear why the district will remove the videos after a week, as that requires someone employed by the district to manually take the video down.

Gross told the board many districts have already moved away from holding meetings using Zoom, which is certainly true. There is no need to use a particular program.

But the district offered no support for the idea that virtual participation in a school board meeting is a serious enough security risk to simply stop offering it.

We urge the Mars Area board to find a way to continue offering virtual participation and to reverse course about removing recordings of school board meetings after a week. Boards should be working to find new ways to engage with the community, not restrict public participation.

— JK