Should Waterloo Catholic District School Board allow the public to record meetings?

After a few incidents occurred in Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) meetings in Spring 2023, where the board hired a security consultant who gave it guidelines to mitigate risks to participants.

One of those was to ban the public from recording any audio or video of the meeting, including local media. The practice isn’t about limiting public participation, according to the Senior Manager of Communications for WCDSB, Lema Salaymeh.

“We just want to ensure that those at the meetings feel safe and that they can engage in a way that’s respectful for everyone involved,” said Salaymeh in an interview with 570 NewsRadio.

“In April and May of 2023, incidents occurred during our board meetings, and members of the public that attended, or a number of them, were actually using cameras in close proximity to trustees and staff which raised concerns at that point about meeting decorum.”

Salaymeh added that resulted in concerns being raised.

“Trustees and staff expressed feelings of discomfort, and concerns about their sense of safety during meetings. That’s what led us to engage with a professional security consultant to assess the space,” she said.

Part of those recommendations included implementing trained security personnel at meetings, a sign-in process with identification for attendees, safe spaces for meeting participants if anything occurred, as well as, restrictions on video and audio recordings. Security personnel are allowed to record still for safety reasons.

Since then, WCDSB added a part into their sign-in protocol for anyone attending a board meeting that reads, “visitors may not take pictures, audio recordings, or video recordings while on school board property during meetings.”

Salaymeh said the policy has been in place since 2023. It officially was implemented in September 2023. When asked if parents were told about the changes, Salaymeh confirmed no correspondence was made but they uploaded the changes to the website.

A trustee for the board, Conrad Stanley, pushed forward a meeting in February that would reverse the decision, allowing the public to film again. It will be discussed and decided on during a March 24 meeting planned.

“If the decision is made at that point, by our trustees to proceed with live streaming again, as we did during the COVID pandemic then we would proceed following that meeting,” added Salaymeh.

“If there are changes to the meeting procedures going forward then we will definitely update our website as we normally do with any changes and reflect them there.”

Legal concerns aren’t being discussed by WCDSB board members currently.

Salaymeh mentioned that the board is committed to transparency to the public.

“We have and continue to publish agendas, minutes and encourage the public to attend our meetings. Our doors are open.”