Butler Area School Board meetings won't be livestreamed, but official audio recordings now will last a little longer.

The board records audio from its meetings for the secretary to use while transcribing the minutes. In accordance with district document destruction policies, the secretary deletes the recordings after the minutes are made official.

But in response to a Butler Eagle editorial that, in part, called for video recordings of school board meetings, the board agreed Monday night to keep those recordings for 30 days after the minutes are approved.

This would allow curious members of the public or board members to review the audio.

Board members arrived at that solution after first unanimously ruling out livestreaming or filming their meetings.

Superintendent Brian White said he believes filming board meetings dramatically changes the atmosphere to a less-productive one. Filmed meetings tend to feel more scripted and discourage informal conversation, White said, limiting collaboration.

“My issue with livestreaming is, I think it creates a show,” White said.

Asked by board President Nina Teff whether there was interest in filming their meetings, no members said they were interested.

Solicitor Tom King aired his own concerns, saying that such audio could create legal difficulties for the district.

“You're going to have lawyers galore in any case involving the school district,” King said. “You're going to tie up personnel. You're going to have people up wanting to listen to tape after tape.” Board secretary Suzanne Robinson also provided a walk-through of how to access meeting minutes on the board's website and said she was taking steps to make them more visible.

White said he read a state report on school day start times, adding that he has some thoughts. However, he doesn't want the district to touch the topic until after it has finished conversations and planning on a reorganization of the district's buildings.Simply mentioning the topic spurred some interest in board members. Athletics dismissal times, home work burdens and student sleep schedules all were brought up.As for school reorganization progress, a large community committee has begun meeting to research the district's options and make a recommendation to the board.Board vice president Jennifer Cummings and Mary Wagner are the board's representatives on that committee. Cummings provided an update Monday, saying they most recently reviewed the downtown middle school's various shortcomings with the district's architects.The committee is scheduled to meet three more times before making a recommendation.