Silent witness

“Whenever there’s a camera around, a video or film camera, it’s a great deal harder for those in power to bury the story.”

– Peter Gabriel, musician/activist

It didn’t take long. The Middlesex Board of Education’s new membership dynamic has produced its first public squabble. It wasn’t about educational philosophy or staffing. It wasn’t about a strategy for boosting the district’s standardized test scores. The conflict broke out over the need for transparency, something you would think all board members could pretty much agree on.

New board member Jeremiah Carnes began video-recording the panel’s Wednesday, Feb. 18 Committee of the Whole (COW) session as it convened, using his cell phone camera. He later posted it on Facebook. A former borough councilman, Carnes sometimes did the same thing at past sessions of the municipal governing body. The difference being, no one at the mayor and council sessions ever objected.

That wasn’t the case at the school board meeting. The board, its administrators and attorney, sit at a U-shaped table configuration. Carnes sat at one prong of the U,  his with phone zeroed in across the room, at the other prong. Board Vice President Sharon Schueler was among those in the camera’s view.

Schueler protested, asking Carnes if the video was “needed.” She opined that a video should be of the entire proceeding, not merely one side of the table. “That camera is pointed directly at me,” she told Carnes.

Carnes refused to relent. “You’re the vice president,” he replied. “I don’t understand?” He noted other school officials were within camera range. “You can stare at me all you want, that’s okay,” Carnes told Schueler. 

“If these audio recordings were on the website,” Carnes commented, “this wouldn’t even be a problem. They’re not even available on the website. You have to special request them.”

Carnes drove home the point that the session was a public meeting. “If I wanted to zoom in on Ms. Schueler, right onto her face and record it, it’s a public meeting, I could do it.”

Schueler replied that she felt “targeted,” with Carnes’ camera pointed directly at her.

“Then don’t be an elected official,” Carnes shot back.

The board’s attorney ruled there was no prohibition on a board member video-recording the public portions of the meeting. But you have to wonder whether this is really the last argument over this issue. Will it erupt into a future policy tug-of-war?

The board’s monthly action meeting video is live-streamed on the district’s website. The COW meetings – which are centered mainly on discussion rather than voting – are not. The board records COW meeting audio to assist in keeping minutes.

In April 2024, Inside – Middlesex inquired why COW meetings are not live-streamed in an email exchange with School Superintendent Dr. Roberta Freeman. One reason for the inquiry was that a COW session had been held the prior Tuesday. At that meeting, action was taken – Schueler was appointed to a vacant board seat.

“These (COW) meetings, rarely involve action taken by the board.  Rather, any necessary action is generally taken at the board’s action meeting, the day after its Committee of the Whole meeting,” Freeman wrote then.

After Schueler voiced protests on Feb. 18, another board member can be heard on the video offering to switch seats with her. Given that she declined, it’s fair to wonder if the vice president’s objections were solely based on Carnes’ camera being pointed her way.

Some who look at the episode might say Carnes was overly brusque in his demeanor. Others might claim Schueler was dismissive of her constituents’ right to know.

All local government entities – but particularly in Middlesex – should be keenly aware of the need for meeting transparency. It wasn’t all that long ago that the town’s sitting mayor was indicted. It could be argued that more consistent press coverage of Borough Council meetings and live-streaming of those sessions, might have discouraged at least some of the official misconduct.

That’s not to suggest there’s anything out-of-bounds legally occurring in the school district. But having as many eyes as possible on public officials is a good thing. Live-streaming of public meetings shouldn’t be a point of contention. It should be a need that everyone agrees on.

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