The monthly meetings of the Finance Committee of the Evanston/Skokie District 65 School Board will be televised to Evanston and Skokie homes in the future, just as the full board meetings have been for many years.
The recommendation to broadcast the Finance Committee meetings, on Channel 19 of the Comcast cable system in Evanston and Channel 26 in Skokie, came from the Board Policy Committee and was approved Monday night by the full board on a 5-to-1 vote, with the chairman of the Finance Committee, Andrew Pigozzi, casting the lone dissenting vote.
Finance Committee meetings are held in the Joseph E. Hill Education Center Board Room, but in a different configuration than the regular board meetings. To broadcast these meetings requires the purchase of about $15,000 of additional cameras and other equipment.
Part of the proposal includes reconfiguring the audio and video closets, including ventilation work and relocation of the Ethernet cable, at an estimated additional cost of $15,500, making the total project cost about $30,500, which would come from bond sale proceeds.
Annual operating costs to the district to provide the service would be about $2,500 to $3,000, according to the administration, which would be included in the district’s operating budget.
The reconfiguration work, however, contains a cost savings for the district in that only one engineer would be required to monitor the proceedings of the board and committee meetings, rather than two as at present
The work is expected to be completed during the summer in time to air the August 13 meeting of the committee.