A Call for REAL Transparency Through 21st Century Accessibility

By Jerome C. Pandell

Our district is one of the few in the East Bay that doesn't make video recordings of board meetings available either via broadcast or online. Let's change that.

Transparency and accessibility are buzzwords that candidates and officeholders often throw around. When I'm elected to the SRVUSD board, I will work to ensure parents, students, teachers, and all members of our community will be able to access video recordings of school board meetings online. If our students can upload videos online in about five minutes, then our district should be able to find a way to provide an online, video record of what the board does at each meeting.

Accessibility and transparency, however, is more than just video recordings appearing online. What sets me apart from the other candidates is my pledge to make outside engagement with all members of the community a cornerstone of my work as a school board member. These past two weeks, I've met voters at back-to-school nights at almost all of our district's elementary, middle, and high schools -- seeing many familiar faces! However, our community members shouldn't only see a board member at back-to-school nights in election years or at board meetings. A board member must be an ambassador for our schools in the community, and that's exactly what I pledge to do.