Fayette school board planning meetings were on TV for 1st time during COVID. Now they aren’t.

Fayette County Public Schools board planning meetings were televised and aired online for the first time ever during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But on Monday that stopped without explanation and the school board planning meeting was held in-person only --not virtual or televised -- for the first time in months.

The Board was back in-person Monday for its July planning work session—the maiden meeting for the new Board room in the John D. Price administration building at 450 Park Place, board chairman Tyler Murphy said.

School board member Stephanie Spires said during the meeting she thought the board should consider bringing back the televised planning meeting.

“It’s just something we should explore,” Spires said. She said school board members did not realize it wouldn’t be televised Monday.

“It gave more transparency because people could watch it in real time,” Spires said.

“That’s a conversation we could certainly have,” said Murphy, because the school board is meeting in a new space with new technology.

“We should evaluate it,” Spires said.

The school board has at least two meetings each month, the planning meeting and the regular monthly school board meeting, which has been televised for years.

Todd Burus, a leader in the Facebook parent group “Let Them Learn in Fayette County, “ said “ I think having them streamed online is nice and provides an extra layer of accountability and transparency.”

“More than anything, having a recording generated and stored online is desirable. I have gone back into the #FCPSKY archives on YouTube several times to double check something someone said or to see something I may have missed originally,” said Burus.

A similar meeting that the Urban County Council holds -- a work session--is regularly televised.

Board member Tom Jones said he had no problem with planning meetings being aired, though he raised the possibility of holding some planning meetings at schools in the district as has happened in the past. Jones said if planning meetings were held at schools, he said he wasn’t sure if they could be televised.

This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 11:33 AM.