For as long as current St. Vrain Valley School District staff can remember, school board meetings have been broadcast on public access television, Channel 8, in Longmont. However, the district recently switched to live-streaming meetings on Vimeo, an online video hosting platform.
The switch was made “to increase streaming reliability and bandwidth to handle a higher volume of viewers,” according to SVVSD Chief Communications and Global Impact Officer, Kerri McDermid.
Last-minute decisions by the school board about school reopening during the coronavirus pandemic put parents on edge wondering what education will look like for their children and increased virtual attendance. Meetings that would draw tens of people in a typical year are now drawing large audiences. For example, the Aug. 12 board meeting had 796 viewers, according to McDermid.
SVVSD chose to use Vimeo because that is where the district has archived all its prior meetings.
The switch to Vimeo has already been made and those interested in live viewing of the school board meeting that starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday can do so at http://stvra.in/boardlive. View the agenda for the meeting here.
Those who wish to view the meeting at a later time used to have to wait at least a day but “with the new setup, there is no delay in posting the videos because the live stream is embedded directly on the meeting page at the start of the meeting,” McDermid said .
“In case of technical difficulties beyond our control, any type of board meeting recording that was able to be captured will be on the district website as soon as possible after the Board Meeting,” according to the website.
