Dist. 158 takes steps to remedy recording issues

Officials in Huntley Unit District 158 said this week they have taken steps to avoid a repeat of a Nov. 13 meeting where all of the devices used to record school board meetings failed to record a substantial portion of open- and closed-session discussions.

The steps came as officials revealed that not only did an audio recorder and two DVD recorders fail to record the meeting, but a backup VHS recorder also failed.

That's a total of four recording devices.

Superintendent John Burkey this week addressed public perception and took responsibility for the failure of the devices.

"I know how this looks. I know the board has questions. They have a right to have questions," Burkey said. "I'm very upset about it, and I'm responsible."

The recordings became an issue after board President Shawn Green pledged to release an audio recording to resolve the controversy over a Nov. 13 closed session.

Board members Larry Snow and Aileen Seedorf have accused three of their colleagues of announcing their intent to appoint Mike Skala to a vacant seat at the outset of the closed session.

The four board members who voted to appoint Skala said all four candidates got a fair shot.

The district has purchased a high-capacity iPod recorder to replace the digital device that failed to record all but two or three minutes of the closed session, Burkey said.

Burkey also said he plans to purchase a second video camera that would record open-session discussions onto a hard drive -- bringing the number of recording systems in the board room to a grand total of four.

"If we're going to do this, we have to be able to consistently get a recording," Burkey said.

The four recording devices failed because of a perfect storm of human error, Burkey said this week.

No one noticed that an audio recorder stopped recording only a few minutes into the closed session, Burkey said. The board didn't have a backup device in case the recorder failed.

The DVD recorders recorded only half an hour of the open session because board Secretary Kim Skaja pressed the record button twice, causing the recorders to stop after 30 minutes, Burkey said.

And the VHS recorder failed because no one put a tape in the machine, he said.